F.VIEW 


Worlds 


Religious  (onoresses 


•  TH  F  - 

-JOHN  -FRYER- 
CHINESE- LIBRARY 


MAIN  LIBRA8Y 


r 


WORLD'S  RELIGIOUS  CONGRESSES. 


M 


KEY.  L.  P.  MEKCEll, 
New-Church  Temple,  Chicago. 


REVIEW 


WORLD'S  Religious  Congresses 


The  World's  Congress  Auxiliary  of  the 

World's  Columbiain^  Expositiois^. 

Chicago,  1893. 


By  EEV.  L.  P.  MERCER, 
Member  op  the  General  Committee. 


CHICAGO  AND  NEW  YORK  : 

RAND,  McNALLY  &  COMPANY. 


Main  Lib. 
JOHN  FRYER 
CHINESE  LIBRARY 

Copyright,  1893,  by  Rand,  McNally  &  Co. 


CONTENTS. 

CHAPTER.                                                                                                                    .  PAGE. 

I.    Ij^itiamei^t  and  Preparation^,         -        -  7 

II.    Openik^g  Spectacle  and  Speeches,       -  -    17 

President  Bonney,      -        -        -         -         -  20 

Eev.  John  Henry  Barrows,  D.  D./         -  -    24 

Cardinal  Gibbons,      -----  30 

Archbishop  Latus,           -         -         -         -  -    31 

P.  C.  Mozoomdar,      -         -         -         -         -  32 

Pung  Quang  Yu,    ------    35 

Kt.-Rev.  Reuchi  Shibata,  -         -         -         -  36 

H.  Dharmapala,     -         -         -         -  •      -  -    37 

Virchand  Gandhi,      -----  39 

C.  N.  Chakravarti,         -         -         -         -  -    40 

Swami  Vivekananda,           -        -         -         -  44 

Miss  Jeanne  Sorabji,      -         -         -         -  -    46 

Prince  Wolkonsky,     -----  49 

III.   A  Religious  Symposium,         -        -        -  -    53 

The  Hindu,        ------  54 

Orthodox  Christianity,  -         -         -         -  -    64 

Liberal  Christianity,  -         -         -         -         -  82 

Buddhism,     -------    86 

Judaism,    -         -         -         -         -         -         -  104 

Mohammedanism,  -         -         -         -         -  -  112 

Roman  Catholic  Church,    -         -         -         -  117 

The  Greek  Church, 125 

Japanese  Criticism  and  Appeal,           -         -  130 

The  Brahmo-Somaj,        .         .         .         -  -  137 

The  New  Christianity,        -         -         -         -  147 

(5) 


747756 


6  CONTENTS. 

CHAPTER.  PAGE. 

IV.   A  Eeligious  Symposium  —  Continued,  -156 

God, 156 

Incarnation,  -------  187 

Sin  and  Keconciliation,       -         -         -         -       199 

•  Eevelation  and  the  Scriptures,        -         -         -  222 

Immortality, -       246 

Sociology, 261 

Woman, -         -       282 

V.   The  Denominational  Congresses,       -        -  289 
VI.   Farewell    Meetings    in    Columbus    and 

Washington  Halls,  -        -        -        -        -  293 
VII.   What  Will  Be  the  Result?       -        -        -      325 


THE,,/;   .    ...,,..^..,,  .,  :  ,. 

WORLD'S  RELiGioils 'Congresses 

OF  1893. 


CHAPTER  I. 

IJSriTIAMET^T  AIS^D   PREPAEATION. 

"TTTHEN  the  record  of  the  achievements  of  the 
VV  World's  Columbian  Exposition  shall  have 
been  fully  written  and  considered  by  those 
far  enough  removed  from  the  event  to  form  impar- 
tial judgments,  it  will  be  found  that  the  most 
remarkable  and  unique  in  kind  and  substantial  in 
results  are  those  of  the  Auxiliary  Congresses,  cover- 
ing more  than  twenty  departments  of  thought,  and 
embracing  over  two  hundred  distinct  congresses, 
participated  in  by  distinguished  specialists.  As  the 
accomplished  and  efficient  secretary  of  the  World's 
Congress  Auxiliary  said  in  summing  up  the  work: 
' '  Never  before  in  the  history  of  the  world  has 
there  been  a  programme  of  subjects  and  speakers 
prepared,  the  i^roper  execution  of  which  required 
the  term  of  six  months.  Never  has  there  been 
created  an  organization  with  210  working  commit- 
tees, a  local  membership  of  1,600,  and  a  non-resi- 

(7) 


8  world's  religious  conghesses. 

dent  membership  of  15,000.  Never  until  the  year 
1893,  which  marks  a  new  epoch  in  the  intellectual 
progress  of  mankind,  has  any  individual  gone  so 
far  as  to  outline  ev^en  the  prospectus  of  a  course  of 
lGct;ir3s  that  covered  the  great  departments  of 
thought,  as  outlined  by  the  president  of  these  con- 
gresses in  his  general  programme.  These  con- 
grosses  have  held  1,245  sessions;  we  have  had 
5,974  speakers,  and  the  total  attendance  at  all  the 
congresses  is  over  three-quarters  of  a  million.  It 
was  a  gigantic  undertaking,  but  it  has  been  success- 
fully accomplished." 

The  original  idea  of  the  world's  congresses  was 
first  published  by  Hon.  C.  C.  Bonney  in  the  Slates- 
man  magazine  for  October,  1889,   in  these  words: 

"The  crowning  glory  of  the  World's  Fair  of  1893 
should  not  be  the  exhibit  there  to  be  made  of  the 
material  triumphs,  industrial  achievements,  and 
mechanical  victories  of  man,  however  magnificent 
that  display  may  be.  Something  higher  and  nobler 
is  demanded  by  the  progressive  spirit  of  the  jd resent 
age.  In  connection  with  that  imi3ortant  event  of 
the  world  all  government,  jurisprudence,  finance, 
science,  literature,  education,  and  religion  should 
be  represented  in  a  congress  of  statesmen,  jurists, 
financiers,  scientists,  literati,  teachers,  and  theolo- 
gians, greater  in  numbers  and  more  widely  repre- 
sentative of  all  peoples  and  nations  and  tongues 
than  any  assemblage  which  has  ever  yet  been  con- 
vened." 

The  idea  was  extensively  discussed,  and  received 
with  much  public  favor.     Subsequently  the  matter 


INITIAMENT  AND    PKEPARATION.  9 

was  taken  up  by  the  Directory  of  the  Columbian 
Exposition,  and  under  its  authority  the  World's 
Congress  Auxiliary  was  organized,  with  C.  C. 
Bonney  as  president,  T.  B.  Bryan,  vice-president, 
Lyman  J.  Gage  as  treasurer,  and  received  the 
indorsement  of  the  United  States  Government. 
The  work  of  organization  commenced  in  October, 
1889,  was  completed  and  the  first  of  the  congresses 
opened  in  May,  1893.  The  last  congress  embraced 
in  the  great  scheme  was  held  during  the  last  week 
in  October ;  and  the  president  in  summing  up 
results  could  say:  "That  these  congresses  have 
been  successful  far  beyond  anticipation,  that  they 
have  transformed  into  enduring  reality  the  hopes 
of  those  who  organized  and  conducted  them,  and 
that  they  will  exercise  a  benign  and  potent  influ- 
ence on  the  welfare  of  mankind  through  the  coming 
centuries  has  been  so  often,  so  emphatically,  and 
so  eloquently  declared  by  eminent  representatives 
of  the  different  countries  and  peoples  that  these 
statements  may  be  accepted  as  established  facts. 
That  the  material  exhibit  of  the  World' s  Columbian 
Exposition  in  Jackson  Park  is  the  most  complete 
and  magnificent  ever  presented  to  human  view  is 
generally  agreed,  but  a  multitude  of  eminent  wit- 
nesses have  declared,  after  attendance  on  both,  that 
the  intellectual  and  moral  exposition  of  the  prog- 
ress of  mankind  presented  in  the  world's  con- 
gresses of  1893  is  greater  and  more  imposing  still. 
Thus  the  work  of  the  World's  Congress  Auxiliary 
takes  its  enduring  place  in  human  history,  an 
imperishable  part  of  the  progress  of  mankind." 


10 

In  the  whole  series  of  congresses  the  *' Parlia- 
ment of  Religions"  has  taken  preeminence,  and 
justly  so,  not  only  because  of  the  importance  and 
universal  interest  of  the  subject,  but  because  it  was 
central  in  the  original  concej)tion  and  its  success 
the  constant  care  of  the  president  of  the  Auxiliary. 
In  his  closing  address  to  the  Parliament  of  Religions 
Mr.  Bonney  said:  "  The  wonderful  success  of  this 
first  actual  congress  of  the  religions  of  the  w^orld  is 
the  realization  of  a  conviction  which  has  held  my 
heart  for  many  years.  I  became  acquainted  with 
the  great  religious  systems  of  the  world  in  my  youth, 
and  have  enjoyed  an  intimate  association  with 
leaders  of  many  churches  during  my  maturer  years. 
I  was  thus  led  to  believe  that  if  the  great  religious 
faiths  could  be  brought  into  relations  of  friendly 
intercourse  many  points  of  symi)athy  and  union 
would  be  found,  and  the  coming  unity  of  mankind 
in  the  love  of  God  and  the  service  of  man  be  greatly 
facilitated  and  advanced.  Hence,  when  the  occasion 
arose  it  was  gladly  welcomed,  and  the  effort  more 
than  willingly  made." 

It  was  in  this  faith,  and  in  the  hope  of  realizing 
this  result,  that  the  ' '  fraternity  of  learning  and 
virtue ' '  was  conceived,  and  the  idea  of  the  congresses 
proposed.  In  conversations  with  the  writer,  in  the 
spiritual  intimacy  of  years,  the  desirability  and 
feasibility  of  such  a  universal  conference  was  often 
dwelt  upon,  on  the  ground  of  our  common  faith, 
that  a  universal  medium  of  salvation  has  been  pro- 
vided by  the  Lord  with  every  nation  that  has  a 
religion,  and  that  to  bring  into  friendly  conference 


INITIAMENT  AND   PREPARATION.  11 

the  representatives  of  all  the  great  historic  faiths 
and  of  the  denominations  of  Christendom  would 
develop  the  fact  that  to  acknowledge  the  divine  and 
live  well  is  the  supreme  and  universal  condition  of 
religion,  and  would  lead  td  the  recognition  of  a 
universal  bond  of  brotherhood  in  faithfulness  to 
what  one  understands  to  he  from  the  divine  and 
to  lead,  to  the  divine. 

When  a  meeting  of  ministers,  representing  all  the 
denominations  in  Chicago,  was  called  in  September, 
1889,  to  aid  in  the  creation  of  an  interest  in  the 
great  Exposition  and  its  location  in  Chicago,  this 
idea  of  a  great  religious  congress  and  of  other 
international  conventions  was  communicated  by 
myself  and  others,  to  whom  it  had  become  familiar; 
and  in  a  sub-committee,  consisting  of  Bishop  Fal- 
lows, Dr.  George  C.  Lorimer,  Dr.  Hiram  W.  Thomas, 
Rev.  Jenkin  L.  Jones,  and  the  writer  of  this  review, 
the  subject  was  fully  discussed,  adopted,  and 
embodied  in  an  address,  which  was  signed  by  the 
whole  committee  of  ministers,  and  gvvQU  to  the 
press  October  1,  1889.  In  these  meetings  of  the 
representatives  of  the  Chicago  churches,  while  the 
general  plan  of  "international  conventions  com- 
posed of  the  scholars  and  thinkers  and  workers  of 
all  countries"  was  adopted,  the  dream  of  a  friendly 
conference  of  all  religions  was  perhaps  by  most 
regarded  as  Utopian,  and  except  for  the  earnest  and 
sanguine  advocacy  of  a  few  bold  spirits  would 
scarcely  have  received  the  indorsement  of  that 
body.  It  was  said  that  religions  had  never  met  but 
in  conflict,  and  that  a  different  result  could  not  be 


12  world's  religious  congresses. 

expected  now.  It  may  be  assuredly  said  that  but 
for  the  high  faith,  catholicity  of  spirit,  great  tact 
and  patience,  and  the  sublime  persistence  of  the 
president  of  the  Auxiliary,  who  dreamed  only  of 
success,  under  the  guidance  of  Providence,  the 
result  which  has  now  become  history  could  never 
have  been  realized;  and  his  "patient  and  titanic 
labors,"  as  Doctor  Barrows  said  at  the  opening  of 
the  parliament,  "  will  one  day  be  appreciated  at 
their  full  value." 

Immediately  upon  the  organization  of  the  Auxili- 
ary the  president  appointed  as  General  Committee 
on  Religious  Congresses  Rev.  John  Henry  Barrows, 
D.  D.,  chairman;  Rt.-Rev.  Bishop  William  E. 
McLaren,  D.  D.,  D.  C.  L.,  Rev.  Prof.  David  Swing, 
vice-chairmen;  His  Grace  Archbishop  P.  A.  Feehan, 
Rev.  F.  A.  Noble,  D.  D.,  Rev.  William  M.  Law- 
rence, D.  D.,  Rev.  F.  M.  Bristol,  D.  D.,  Rabbi  E.G. 
Hirsch,  Rev.  A.  J.  Canfield,  D.  D.,  Rev.  M.  Ranseen, 
Rev.  J.  Berger,  Mr.  J.  W.  Plummer,  Rev.  J.  Z. 
Torgersen,  Rev.  L.  P.  Mercer,  Rev.  Jenkin  Lloyd 
Jones,  Rt  -Rev.  Bishop  C.  E.  Cheney,  D.  D.  The 
result  is  an  imperishable  monument  to  the  zeal  and 
efficiency  of  the  chairman  and  cooperating  members 
of  this  committee.  Doctor  Barrows  entered  with 
enthusiasm  into  the  scheme,  and  brought  his  great 
abilities  to  the  support  of  a  faith  in  the  world's 
response.  The  preliminary  address  of  the  commit- 
tee, prepared  by  him  and  sent  throughout  the  world, 
elicited  the  most  gratifying  responses,  and  proved 
that  the  proposed  congress  was  not  only  practicable, 
but  also  that  it  was  most  earnestly  demanded  by  the 


INITIAMENT  AND   PREPARATION.  13 

needs  of  the  present  age.  The  religious  leaders  of 
many  lands,  hungering  and  thirsting  for  a  larger 
righteousness,  gave  the  proposal  their  benedictions, 
and  promised  the  congress  their  active  cooperation 
and  support. 

Opposition  was  encountered  in  many  quarters, 
and  not  a  few  well-known  Christian  writers  con- 
demned what  they  called  an  attemjit  to  congregate 
"the  exponents  and  propagandists  of  all  false  and 
corrupt  religions,  on  equal  terms  with  the  advocates 
of  the  Christian  religion,  for  a  competitive  compari- 
son of  the  merits  of  these  beliefs."  It  was  manifest 
from  the  outset,  however,  that  the  great  popular  sym- 
pathy of  Christendom  was  with  the  movement,  and 
that  these  narrow  misconceptions  were  confined  to  a 
small,  if  zealous,  minority.  The  position  of  Dr. 
John  Henry  Barrows  as  chairman  of  the  General 
Committee,  through  the  long  period  of  strenuous  toil 
which  brought  the  preparations  to  completion,  was 
not  an  enviable  one.  While  his  committee  worked 
together  in  unbroken  harmony,  the  burden  of 
responsibility,  and  the  corresx)ondence  necessary  to 
any  promise  of  success,  and  the  executive  energy 
and  tact  inevitable  to  the  arrangement  of  so  vast 
and  varied  a  programme,  fell  upon  him.  At  the 
same  time,  standing  as  the  representative  of  an 
orthodox  churcli  which  withheld  its  support  from 
the  movement,  he  became  the  target  of  bigoted 
criticism  which  must  have  often  strained  friendships 
and  sometimes  made  his  position  little  less  than 
heroic.  On  the  other  hand,  he  received  the  benedic- 
tions and  the  generous  cooperation  of  some  of  the 


14  world's  religious  congresses. 

foremost  minds  of  Christendom,  and  the  loyal  assist- 
ance of  the  Woman's  Committee  and  of  the  many- 
local  denominational  committees,  with  their  advis- 
ory councils,  advanced  the  interest  throughout  the 
world. 

The  plan  extended-  as  the  preparations  advanced, 
and  the  programme  itself  of  the  religious  congresses 
of  1893  constitutes  what  was  with  perfect  propriety 
designated  as  one  of  the  most  remarkable  publica- 
tions of  the  century.  The  programme  of  this  gen- 
eral parliament  of  religions  directly  represented 
England,  Scotland,  Sweden,  Switzerland,  France, 
Germany,  Russia,  Turkey,  Greece,  Egypt,  Syria, 
India,  Japan,  China,  Ceylon,  New  Zealand,  Brazil, 
Canada,  and  the  American  States,  and  indirectly 
included  many  other  countries.  It  presented ,  among 
other  great  themes  to  be  considered  in  this  congress, 
Theism,  Judaism,  Mohammedanism,  Hinduism, 
Buddhism,  Taoism,  Confucianism,  Shintoism,  Zoro- 
astrianism,  Catholicism,  the  Greek  church.  Protest- 
antism in  many  forms,  and  other  religious  systems. 

This  programme  also  announced  for  presentation 
the  great  subjects  of  revelation,  immortality,  the 
incarnation  of  God,  the  universal  elements  in 
religion,  the  ethical  unity  of  different  religious  sys- 
tems, the  relations  of  religion  to  morals,  marriage, 
education,  science,  philosophy,  evolution,  music, 
labor,  government,  peace  and  Avar,  and  many  other 
themes  of  absorbing  interest.  The  distinguished 
leaders  of  human  progress  by  whom  these  great 
topics  were  presented  constitute  an  uitparalleled 
galaxy  of  eminent  names.     For  the  execution  of  this 


INITIAMENT  AND   PREPARATION.  15 

part  of  the  general  programme  seventeen  days  were 
assigned.  During  substantially  the  same  period 
the  second  part  of  the  programme  was  executed  in 
the  adjoining  Hall  of  Washington.  This  consisted 
of  what  are  termed  presentations  of  their  distinctive 
faith  and  achievements  by  the  different  churches. 
These  presentations  were  made  to  the  world,  as  rep- 
resented in  the  world's  religious  congresses  of  1893. 

The  third  j)art  of  the  general  programme  for  the 
congresses  of  this  dejDartment  consisted  of  separate 
and  independent  congresses  of  the  different  religious 
aenomi  nations,  for  the  purpose  of  more  fully  setting 
forth  their  doctrines  and  the  service  they  have  ren- 
dered to  mankind.  These  special  congresses  were 
held,  for  the  most  part,  in  the  smaller  halls  of  the 
memorial  building.  The  denominational  congresses 
were  each  held  during  the  week  in  which  the  presen- 
tation of  the  denomination  occurred. 

The  fourth  and  final  part  of  the  programme  of  the 
department  of  religion  consisted  of  congresses  of 
various  kindred  organizations,  held  between  the 
close  of  the  Parliament  of  Religions  and  October  15th, 
including  Missions,  Ethics,  Sunday  rest,  the  Evan- 
gelical Alliance,  and  similar  associations. 

Well  might  President  Bonney  in  opening  the  par- 
liament, contemplating  with  satisfaction  and  pride 
the  event  he  had  conceived  with  such  daring,  devel- 
oped with  so  much  labor  to  such  elaborate  complete- 
ness by  the  committees  which  he  had  called  to  his 
aid  and  intrusted  with  the  responsibility,  exclaim: 
''To  this  more  than  imperial  feast  I  bid  you  wel- 


16  '  world's  religious  congresses. 

The  great  assembly  has  been  held,  the  possibility 
of  conference  and  fraternal  respect  demonstrated, 
the  great  deliverances  made;  and  now  the  work  of 
study,  comparison,  and  honest  criticism  may  begin. 


CHAPTER  II. 

THE   OPENING  SPECTACLE  AND   SPEECHES. 

AN  unfinished  art  palace  converted  into  recep- 
tion chambers  and  assembly  halls  for  a 
world's  congress;  eager  and  hospitable  ladies 
offering  cordial  greetings  and  words  of  direction  to 
the  crowds  who  inquire  for  the  Hall  of  Columbus, 
or  seek  to  register  as  members  of  the  Parliament  of 
Religions;  distinguished  committeemen  greeting 
and  guiding,  uow  a  Roman  Catholic  cardinal,  and 
now  a  stately  Hindu  in  orange  robe  and  turban, 
and  again  a  group  of  Japanese  Buddhist  monks,  to 
the  ^president's  reception-room,  where  they  are  wel- 
comed by  a  Christian  layman  as  the  recognized 
official  of  a  Christian  nation,  and  by  a  Presbyterian 
clergyman  as  chairman  of  the  occasion,  and  intro- 
duced to  an  archbishop  of  the  Greek  church  in  his 
high  black  cap,  the  black  gown  and  jeweled  orna- 
ments of  his  order;  everywhere  Christians  of  many 
denominations  are  acting  as  hosts,  w^elcoming  distin- 
guished visitors  from  China,  Japan,  India,  Russia, 
Sweden,  Germany,  England,  Australia,  New 
Zealand,  and  introducing  them  to  one  another  as 
brothers,  worshiping  the  one  only  God,  having  a  com- 
mon goal !  Surely  the  Avorld  moves.  We  have  been 
boasting  of  a  new  age,  an  age  of  inquiry,  expecta- 
tion,   and    experiment.     It    is    evident    we    have 

2  (17) 


18  world's  religious  cois^gresses. 

reached,  also,  a  new  era  of  fraternity  and  good-will, 
and  that  the  ' '  Fatherhood  of  God  and  the  brother- 
hood of  man"  is  to  have  henceforth  a  real  interpre- 
tation among  men 

Gorgeous  and  imposing  spectacles  have  been  wit- 
nessed in  every  land,  but  nothing  which  inspires 
the  heart  and  fires  the  imagination  like  this  doable 
file  of  the  representatives  of  all  religions  headed  by 
a  Christian  layman  and  a  Presbyterian  minister. 
The  audience  which  filled  Columbus  Hall  to  its 
utmost  capacity  is  deeply  moved,  and  many  who 
walk  in  the  procession,  who  have  had  their  hours  of 
hope  and  hours  of  grave  misgiving,  are  almost 
overpowered  with  a  sense  of  the  possible  significance 
of  the  occasion.  All  know  that  at  the  hour  of  10, 
on  this  11th  day  of  September,  the  new  Liberty 
Bell  struck  ten  strokes  in  honor  of  the  ten  great 
religions  of  the  world,  and  many  believed  the  bell 
proclaimed  ''a  new  liberty  of  thought  and  wider 
tolerance  of  opinion,"  and  some  devoutly  pray 
as  the  procession  moves  to  the  platform  for  the 
Spirit  that  shall  make  them  worthy  links  in  a  uni- 
versal bond  of  brotherhood  in  God.  But  how  shall 
these  differences  harmonize  ?  If  there  is  a  common 
sj)irit  of  worship,  how  shall  it  find  a  common 
expression  ? 

This  is  the  first  revelation  of  the  memorable 
morning.  Calling  the  assembly  to  its  feet.  Presi- 
dent Bonney  announces  a  brief  moment  of  silent 
prayer,  each  offering  the  aspiration  of  his  heart  in 
the  language  of  his  thought;  after  Avhich  the  whole 
multitude,  Christian,  Jew,  and  Gentile,  led  by  Car- 


•   OPENING  ADDRESSES.  19 

dinal  Grbbons,  joined  in  the  universal  prayer 
"Our  Father,"  and  burst  forth,  with  the  organ's 
lead,  into  the  doxology,  "Praise  God,  from  whom 
all  blessings  flow."  In  impressiveness  and  preg- 
nant promise  the  occasion  could  not  well  be  sur- 
passed. 

But  how  is  this  beginning  to  end  ?  We  know  it 
ended  well.  "The  Fatherhood  of  God  and 
brotherhood  of  man"  proved  not  only  a  watch- 
word, but  a  sentiment  impressive,  respectful,  and 
genuine.  Yague  and  various  the  ideas  of  the  sig- 
nificance of  the  phrase  may  have  been  with  many, 
I  am  disposed  to  say  with  most,  yet  almost  every 
speaker  at  the  opening  session  expressed  in  some 
form  what  alone  could  give  it  reality  of  meaning. 
I  asked  myself,  Why  are  these  my  brothers? 
Because  they  are  scholars?  Not  that.  Scholars 
there  are  from  Christendom,  and  their  peers  in 
scholarship  from  the  far-off  East,  on  this  platform, 
and  the  recognition  of  a  common  bond  in  knowl- 
edge of  the  history  of  opinion  and  in  trained 
methods  of  study.  But  this  alone  would  lead  to 
debate  and  contest  of  opinion  among  intellectual 
peers.  Something  must  hold  this  in  check,  and 
overshadow  it  in  the  recognition  of  a  spiritual 
relationship,  if  our  hopes  are  to  be  realized.  Are 
these  brothers  because  they  are  men?  I  asked. 
That  fact  will  not  bring  the  result  hoped  for  unless 
there  is  a  common  sense  of  true  manhood.  And 
what  should  that  be  except  the  recognition  of  true 
humanity  in  a  man's  faithfulness  to  what  he 
helieves  to  he  divine  in  the  hope  of  union  with  the 


20  world's  religious  congresses. 

All  Good.  Just  tliat,  I  thought,  expresses  the 
universal  bond  of  brotherhood  in  God.  This  man 
is  my  brother  because  he  loves  and  lives  up  to  what 
he  believes  to  be  from  the  divine,  and  in  the  hope 
of  union  with  the  divine.  That  in  him  is  brother 
to  that  in  me  which  seeks  obedience  to  the  divine. 
Diverse  our  readings  of  the  divine  may  be,  but 
faithfulness  to  what  I  read  I  know  to  be  my  highest 
and  truly  human  quality,  and  because  I  recognize 
this  faithfulness  in  another,  also,  I  know  him  to  be 
my  brother.  So  I  thought,  and  felt  assured  that  if 
this  sense  of  brotherhood  were  in  the  assembly, 
uttered  or  unexpressed,  it  would  make  itself  felt. 

Looking  back  now  over  the  speeches  of  welcome 
and  response  on  that  opening  day,  I  am  profoundly 
impressed  with  the  fact  that  this  very  recognition 
made  the  Parliament  of  Religions  the  inauguration 
of  a  new  impulse  among  men. 

"Worshipers  of  God  and  lovers  of  men,"  were 
the  felicitous  words  in  which  President  Bonney 
opened  his  inaugural. 

"Let  us  rejoice,"  he  continued,  "that  we  have 
lived  to  see  this  glorious  day;  let  us  give  thanks  to 
the  Eternal  God,  whose  mercy  endureth  forever,  that 
we  are  permitted  to  take  part  in  the  solemn  and 
majestic  event  of  a  world's  congress  of  religions. 
The  importance  of  this  event  can  not  be  overes- 
timated. Its  influence  on  the  future  relations  of 
the  various  races  of  men  can  not  be  too  highly 
esteemed. 

' '  If  this  congress  shall  faithfully  execute  the  duties 
with  which  it  has  been  charged  it  will  become  a  joy 


OPENING  ADDRESSES.  21 

of  the  whole  earth  and  stand  in  human  history  like 
a  new  Mount  Zion,  crowned  with  glory  and  mark- 
ing the  actual  beginning  of  the  new  epoch  of 
brotherhood  and  peace. 

"For  when  the  religious  faiths  of  the  world  rec- 
ognize each  other  as  brothers,  children  of  one 
Father,  whom  all  profess  to  love  and  serve,  then, 
and  not  till  then,  will  the  nations  of  the  earth  yield 
to  the  spirit  of  concord  and  learn  war  no  more. 

"  It  is  inspiring  to  think  that  in  every  part  of  the 
world  many  of  the  worthiest  of  mankind,  who  would 
gladly  join  us  here  if  that  were  in  their  power,  this 
day  lift  their  hearts  to  the  Supreme  Being  in  earnest 
prayer  for  the  harmony  and  success  of  this  congress. 
To  them  our  own  hearts  speak  in  love  and  sym- 
pathy in  this  impressive  and  prophetic  scene. 

"In  this  congress  the  word  'religion'  means  the 
love  and  worshij)  of  God  and  the  love  and  service  of 
man.  We  believe  the  Scripture,  that '  of  a  truth  God 
is  no  respecter  of  persons,  but  in  every  nation  he  that 
feareth  God  and  worketh  righteousness  is  accepted 
of  him.'  We  come  together  in  mutual  conhdence 
and  respect,  without  the  least  surrender  or  compro- 
mise of  anything  which  we  respectively  believe  to  be 
truth  or  duty,  with  the  hope  that  mutual  acquaint- 
ance and  a  free  and  sincere  interchange  of  views  on 
the  great  questions  of  eternal  life  and  human  con- 
duct will  be  mutually  beneficial. 

"As  the  finite  can  never  fully  comprehend  the 
infinite,  nor  perfectly  express  its  own  view  of  the 
divine,  it  necessarily  follows  that  individual  opin- 
ions of  the  divine  nature  and  attributes  will  differ. 


22  woeld's  religious  congresses. 

But,  properly  understood,  these  varieties  of  view 
are  not  causes  of  discord  and  strife,  but  rather  in- 
centives to  deeper  interest  and  examination.  Nec- 
essarily God  reveals  himself  differently  to  a  child 
than  to  a  man;  to  a  philosopher  than  to  one  who 
can  not  read.  Each  must  see  God  with  the  eyes  of 
his  own  soul;  each  must  behold  him  through  the 
colored  glass  of  his  own  nature;  each  one  must 
receive  him  according  to  his  own  capacity  of  recep- 
tion. The  fraternal  union  of  the  religions  of  the 
world  will  come  when  each  seeks  truly  to  know  how 
God  has  revealed  himself  in  the  other,  and  remem- 
bers the  inexorable  law  that  with  what  judgment  it 
judges  it  shall  itself  be  judged. 

^'The  religious  faiths  of  the  world  have  most 
seriously  misunderstood  and  misjudged  each  other 
from  the  use  of  words  in  meanings  radically  differ- 
ent from  those  which  they  were  intended  to  bear, 
and  from  a  disregard  of  the  distinctions  between 
appearances  and  facts;  between  signs  and  symbols 
and  the  things  signified  and  represented.  Such 
errors  it  is  hoped  that  this  congress  will  do  much  to 
correct  and  to  render  hereafter  impossible. 

"  He  who  believes  that  God  has  revealed  himself 
more  fully  in  his  religion  than  in  any  other  can  not 
do  otherwise  than  desire  to  bring  that  religion  to 
the  knowledge  of  all  men,  with  an  abiding  con- 
viction that  the  God  who  gave  it  will  preserve,  pro- 
tect, and  advance  it  in  every  expedient  way ;  and 
hence  he  will  welcome  every  just  opportunity  to 
come  into  fraternal  relations  with  men  of  other 
creeds,  that  they  may  see  in  his  upright  life  the 


OPENING  ADDRESSES.  23 

evidence  of  tlie  truth  and  beauty  of  his  faith,  and 
be  thereby  led  to  learn  it,  and  be  helped  heavenward 
by  it.  When  it  pleased  God  to  give  me  the  idea  of 
the  world's  congresses  of  1893,  there  came  with  that 
idea  a  profound  •  conviction  that  their  crowding 
glory  should  be  a  fraternal  conference  of  the  world's 
religions.  Accordingly,  the  original  announcement 
of  the  world's  congress  scheme,  which  was  sent  by 
the  Government  of  the  United  States  to  all  other 
nations,  contained,  among  other  great  themes  to  be 
considered,  '  The  grounds  for  fraternal  union  in  the 
religions  of  different  people.'  " 

Concluding,  Mr.  Bonney  said:  "This  day  the  sun 
of  a  new  era  of  religious  peace  an.d  progress  rises 
over  the  world,  dispelling  the  dark  clouds  of  secta- 
rian strife.  This  day  a  new  flower  blooms  in  the 
gardens  of  religious  thought,  filling  the  air  with  its 
exquisite  perfume.  This  day  a  new  fraternity  is 
born  into  the  world  of  human  progress,  to  aid  in 
the  upbuilding  of  the  kingdom  of  God  in  the  hearts 
of  men.  Era  and  flower  and  fraternity  bear  one 
name.  It  is  a  name  which  will  gladden  the  hearts 
of  those  who  worship  God  and  love  man  in  every 
clime.  Those  who  hear  its  music  joyfully  echo  it 
back  to  sun  and  flower. 

''  It  is  the  brotherhood  of  religions. 

' '  In  this  name  I  welcome  the  first  parliament  of  the 
religions  of  the  world." 

This  auspicious  opening  was  received  with  an 
enthusiasm  which  was  augmented  and  deepened 
when  Doctor  Barrows  followed  with  his  eloquent 
and  catholic  address.     If  the  full  significance  of  the 


24  wokld's  religious  congresses. 

occasion  is  to  be  measured,  the  circumstances  must 
be  frankly  considered.  Doctor  Barrows  was  not 
merely  the  chairman  of  the  Parliament  of  Religions; 
he  was  such  as  the  representative  of  one  of  the 
denominations  of  Christendom.  »While  his  utter- 
ances were,  of  course,  in  no  w^ay  intended  to  com- 
mit his  denomination,  they  are  to  be  considered  as 
showing  what  a  man  in  his  position  is  free  to  say  on 
an  occasion  in  which  not  so  very  long  ago  he  would 
not  have  been  free  to  participate.  While  for  con- 
scientious boldness,  as  the  utterance  of  a  man  who 
had  been  subjected  to  annoying  sectarian  criticism 
from  many  quarters,  his  words  are  admirable,  they 
set  a  model  of  dignity  and  devout  reliance  upon  the 
justifying  providence  of  God  that  must  silence 
opposition,  quiet  distrust,  and  stimulate  generous 
impulses. 

'^If  my  heart  did  not  overflow,"  he  said,  ^'with 
cordial  welcome  at  this  hour,  which  promises  to  be 
a  great  moment  in  history,  it  would  be  because  I 
had  lost  the  spirit  of  manhood  and  had  been  for- 
saken by  the  Spirit  of  God.  The  whitest  snow  on 
the  sacred  mount  of  Japan,  the  clearest  water 
springing  from  the  sacred  fountains  of  India,  are 
not  more  pure  and  bright  than  the  joy  of  my  heart 
and  of  many  hearts  here  that  this  day  has  dawned 
in  the  annals  of  time,  and  that,  from  the  farthest 
isles  of  Asia;  from  India,  mother  of  religions;  from 
Europe,  the  great  teacher  of  civilization;  from  the 
shores  on  which  breaks  the  'long  wash  of  Austral- 
asian seas';  that  from  neighboring  lands  and  from 
all  i^arts  of  this  republic,  which  we  love  to  contem- 


OPENING  ADDRESSES.  26 

plate  as  the  land  of  earth's  brightest  future,  you 
have  come  here  at  our  invitation  in  the  expectation 
that  the  world's  first  parliament  of  religions  must 
prove  an  event  of  race-wide  and  perpetual  signifi- 
cance. 

"For  more  than  two  years  the  General  Committee, 
which  I  have  the  honor  to  represent,  working 
together  in  unbroken  harmony,  and  presenting  the 
picture  of  prophecy  of  a  united  Christendom,  have 
carried  their  arduous  and  sometimes  appalling  task 
in  happy  anticipation  of  this  golden  hour.  Your 
coming  has  constantly  been  in  our  thoughts,  and 
holies,  and  fervent  prayers.  I  rejoice  that  your 
long  voyages  and  journeys  are  over,  and  that  here, 
in  this  young  capital  of  our  Western  civilization, 
you  find  men  eager  for  truth,  sympathetic  with  the 
spirit  of  universal  human  brotherhood,  and  loyal,  I 
believe,  to  the  highest  they  know,  glad  and  grate- 
ful to  Almighty  God  that  they  see  your  faces  and 
are  to  hear  your  words. 

' '  Welcome,  most  welcome,  O  wise  men  of  the  East 
and  of  the  West!  May  the  star  which  has  led  you 
hither  be  like  unto  that  luminary  which  guided  the 
men  of  old,  and  may  this  meeting  by  the  inland 
sea  of  a  new  continent  be  blessed  of  heaven  to  the 
redemption  of  men  from  error  and  from  sin  and 
despair.  I  wish  you  to  understand  that  this  great 
undertaking,  which  has  aimed  to  house  under  one 
friendly  roof  in  brotherly  counsel  the  representa- 
tives of  God's  aspiring  and  believing  children  every- 
where, has  been  conceived  and  carried  on  through 
strenuous  and  patient  toil,    with    an    unfaltering 


26  woeld's  religious  congresses. 

heart,  with  a  devout  faith  in  God,  and  with  most 
signal  and  special  evidences  of  his  divine  guidance 
and  favor.  • 

"Long  ago  I  should  have  surrendered  the  task 
intrusted  to  me  before  the  colossal  difficulties  loom- 
ing ever  in  the  way,  had  I  not  committed  my  work 
to  the  gracious  care  of  that  God  who  loves  all  his 
children,  whose  thoughts  are  long,  long  thoughts, 
who  is  patient  and  merciful  as  well  as  just,  and 
who  cares  infinitely  more  for  the  souls  of  his  erring 
children  than  for  any  creed  or  philosophy  of  human 
devising.  If  anything  great  and  worthy  is  to  be 
the  outcome  of  this  parliament,  the  glory  is  wholly 
due  to  him  who  inspired  it,  and  who  in  the  Script- 
ures, whicli  most  of  us  cherish  as  the  word  of  God, 
has  taught  the  blessed  truths  of  divine  fatherhood 
and  human  brotherhood. 

* '  I  should  not  use  the  word  'if  in  speaking  of 
the  outcome  of  this  congress  of  religions,  since,  were 
it  decreed  that  our  sessions  should  end  this  day,  the 
truthful  historian  would  say  that  the  idea  which 
has  inspired  and  led  this  movement,  the  idea  whose 
beauty  and  force  have  drawn  you  through  these 
many  thousand  miles  of  travel,  that  this  idea  has 
been  so  flashed  before  the  eyes  of  men  that  tliey 
will  not  forget  it,  and  that  our  meeting  this  morn- 
ing has  become  a  new,  great  fact  in  the  historic  evo- 
lution of  the  race  which  will  not  be  obliterated. 

"What,  it  seems  to  me,  should  have  blunted 
some  of  the  arrows  of  criticism  shot  at  the  pro- 
moters of  this  movement  is  this  other  fact,  that  it 
is  the  representatives  of  that  Christian  faith  which 


OPENING  ADDRESSES.  27 

we  believe  lias  in  it  such  elements  and  divine  forces 
that  it  is  fitted  to  the  needs  of  all  men  who  have 
planned  and  provided  this  first  school  of  compara- 
tive religions,  wherein  devout  men  of  all  faiths  may 
speak  for  themselves  without  hindrance,  without 
criticism,  and  without  compromise,  and  tell  what 
they  believe  and  why  they  believe  it.  I  appeal  to 
the  representatives  of  the  non-Christian  faiths,  and 
ask  you  if  Christianity  suffers  in  your  eyes  from 
having  called  this  Parliament  of  Religions?  Do  you 
believe  that  its  beneficent  work  in  the  world  will 
be  one  whit  lessened?" 

"We  are  met  together  to-day,"  he  continued, 
"as  men,  children  of  one  God,  sharers  with  all  men 
in  weakness,  and  guilt,  and  need,  sharers  with  de- 
vout souls  everywhere  in  aspiration,  and  hope,  and 
longing.  We  are  met  as  religious  men,  believing, 
even  here  in  this  capital  of  material  wonders^  in  the 
presence  of  an  exposition  which  displays  the  un- 
paralleled marvels  of  steam  and  electricity,  that 
there  is  a  spiritual  root  to  all  human  progress.  We 
are  met  in  a  school  of  comparative  theology,  which 
I  hope  will  x)rove  more  spiritual  and  ethical  than 
theological.  We  are  met,  I  believe,  in  the  temper 
of  love,  determined  to  bury,  at  least  for  the  time, 
our  sharp  hostilities,  anxious  to  find  out  wherein  we 
agree,  eager  to  learn  what  constitutes  the  strength  of 
other  faiths  and  the  weakness  of  our  own;  and  we 
are  met  as  conscientious  and  truth-seeking  men  in  a 
council  where  no  one  is  asked  to  surrender  or  abate 
his  individual  convictions,  and  where,  I  will  add,  no 
one  would  be  worthy  of  a  place  if  he  did. 


28  world's  religious  congresses. 

*  *  We  are  met  in  a  great  conference,  men  and  women 
of  different  minds,  where  tlie  speaker  will  not  be 
ambitious  for  short-lived  verbal  victories  over 
others;  where  gentleness,  courtesy,  wisdom,  and 
moderation  will  prevail  far  more  than  heated  argu- 
mentation. I  am  confident  that  you  appreciate  the 
peculiar  limitations  which  constitute  the  peculiar 
glory  of  this  assembly.  We  are  not  here  as  Baptists 
and  Buddhists,  Catholics  and  Confucians,  Parsees 
and  Presbyterians,  Methodists  and  Moslems.  We 
are  here  as  members  of  a  parliament  of  religions, 
over  which  flies  no  sectarian  flag,  which  is  to  be 
stampeded  by  no  sectarian  w^ar-cries,  but  where  for 
the  first  time  in  a  large  council  is  lifted  up  the  ban- 
ner of  love,  fellowship,  brotherhood.  We  all  feel 
that  there  is  a  spirit  which  should  always  pervade 
these  meetings,  and  if  any  one  should  offend  against 
this  spirit  let  him  not  be  rebuked  publicly  or  per- 
sonally. Your  silence  will  be  a  graver  and  severer 
rebuke. 

"We  are  not  here  to  criticise  one  another,  but  each 
to  speak  out  positively  and  frankly  his  own  con- 
victions regarding  his  own  faith.  The  great  world 
outside  will  review  our  work;  the  next  century  will 
review  it.  It  is  our  high  and  noble  business  to  make 
that  work  the  best  possible." 

With  earnest  acknowledgment  of  the  coopera- 
tion of  men  and  women  at  home  and  abroad  who 
had  rendered  assistance,  with  words  of  welcome  to 
the  representatives  in  their  several  orders,  and  with 
recognition  of  spiritual  conditions  and  causes  in  the 
spirits  of  just  and  good  men  passed  from  earth,  and 


OPENING  ADDRESSES,  29 

forming  "a  great  company  of  witnesses,"  Doctor 
Barrows  concluded  in  these  words: 

"  When,  a  few  days  ago,  I  met  for  the  first  time 
the  delegates  who  have  come  to  ns  from  Japan,  and 
shortly  after  the  delegates  who  have  come  to  us  from 
India,  I  felt  that  the  arms  of  human  brotherhood 
had  reached  almost  around  the  globe.  But  there  is 
something  stronger  than  human  love  and  fellowship, 
and  w^hat  gives  us  the  most  hope  and  happiness 
to-day  is  our  confidence  that  — 

The  whole  round  world  is  every  way 

Bound  by  gold  chains  about  the  feet  of  God." 

The  key-note  Lad  been  sounded,  and  the  audience 
recognized  it  with  sympathetic  enthusiasm  when- 
ever it  was  approached  in  the  varied  addresses  of 
the  day.  Whether  it  was  the  generosity  of  good- 
will, or  appreciation  of  the  novelty  of  high  official 
representatives  of  the  Eoman  church  pleading 
for  '^religious  liberty,"  Archbishop  Feehan  and 
Cardinal  Gibbons  were  received  with  especial 
interest.  Perhaps  it  was  not  yet  known  to  most 
that  Bishop  Keane,  the  eminent  rector  of  the  Cath- 
olic University  at  Washington,  had  taken  a  cor- 
dial and  active  part  in  the  preliminary  work, 
and  that  Catholics  had  shown  from  the  outset  a 
worthy  interest  in  the  parliament;  but,  whether  from 
surprise  or  from  expectation,  the  audience  was 
eager  to  welcome  the  cardinal  and  arc ii  bishop. 
Their  speeches  were  scarcely .  equal  in  dignity  and 
catholicity  to  the  addresses  contributed  by  repre- 
sentatives of  the  Catholic  church  later  in  the  ses- 


30  world's  religious  congresses. 

sions,  and  betrayed  some  restraint,  as  if  unwilling 
too  far  to  commit  themselves.  Archbishop  Feehan 
noted  ''great  diversities  of  opinion,  but  in  all  a 
great,  high  motive."  Cardinal  Gibbons  that,  not- 
withstanding diversities  of  belief,  there  is  a  ^  ^  plat- 
form of  charity,  of  humanity,  and  of  benevolence" 
on  which  all.  may  stand.  Later  in  the  day.  Arch- 
bishop Redwood  of  New  Zealand  raised  the  open- 
ing voice  of  the  Catholic  church  to  a  higher  strain 
of  faith,  saying:  "In  her  teaching  there  is  an 
event  which  the  human  race  shall  never  forget — = 
that  the  Godhead  took  up  our  human  nature  to  ele- 
vate and  unite  it  with  the  divine  nature,  whence 
began  a  brotherhood  of  man  never  dreamed  of  by 
merely  human  beings."  And  pointing  out  that  in 
all  religions  there  must  be  an  element  of  truth  to 
account  for  their  persistence,  he  recalled  the  saying 
of  Christ,  "I  am  the  truth,"  and  exclaimed, 
' '  Wherever  there  is  truth  there  is  something  worthy 
the  respect,  not  only  of  man,  but  of  God,  the  God- 
man,  the  incarnate  God." 

When  the  Archbishop  of  Zante,  Greece,  the  Most 
Reverend  Dionysios  Latus,*  was  introduced,  and 
arose  with  the  dignity  of  manly  strength,  of  great 
learning,  of  ripened  age,  and  the  bearing  of  official 
responsibility,  curiosity  gave  place  to  profound  re- 
spect before  he  had  uttered  a  word.  It  was  an  object 
lesson  — not  so  much  in  the  power  of  presence  as  in 
the  sphere  of  power.  Through  a  certain  labored 
ceremonial  of  manner  there  breathed  a  directness  of 
purpose  and  intensity  of  feeling  that  made  itself 
appreciated  before  he  had  articulated  his  thought: 


C.  C.  BONNEY. 

President  of  the  World's  Congress  Auxiliar, 


OPENING  ADDRESSES.  31 

''Reverend  ministers,  most  honorable  gentle- 
men, the  superiors  of  this  congress,  and  hon- 
orable ladies  and  gentlemen:  I  consider  myself 
very  happy  in  having  set  my  feet  on  this  plat- 
form to  take  part  in  the  congress  of  the  different 
nations  and  peoples.  I  thank  the  great  American 
nation,  and  especially  the  superiors  of  this  congress, 
for  the  high  manner  in  which  they  have  honored  me 
by  inviting  me  to  take  part,  and  I  thank  the  minis- 
ters of  divinity  of  the  different  nations  and  peoples 
which,  for  the  first  time,  will  write  their  faiths 
together  in  the  books  of  the  history  of  the  world." 

Then,  referring  to  the  realization  of  his  long-cher- 
ished hope  to  visit  this  country,  and  to  the  impor- 
tance of  the  history  and  influence  of  the  Greek 
church,  which  it  was  his  privilege  to  represent,  he 
turned  to  the  dignitaries  on  the  platform,  and  lift- 
ing his  hands,  he  said: 

''Eeverend  ministers  of  the  eloquent  name  of 
God,  the  Creator  of  your  earth  and  mine,  I  salute 
you  on  the  one  hand  as  my  brothers  in  Jesus  Christ, 
from  whom,  according  to  our  faith,  all  good  has 
originated  in  this  world.  I  salute  you  in  the  name 
of  the  divinely  inspired  gospel,  which,  according  to 
our  faith,  is  the  salvation  of  the  soul  of  man  and 
the  happiness  of  man  in  this  world. 

' '  All  men  have  a  common  Creator,  without  any 
distinction  between  the  rich  and  the  poor,  the  ruler 
and  the  ruled;  all  men  have  a  common  Creator  with- 
out any  distinction  of  clime  or  race,  without  distinc- 
tion of  nationality  or  ancestry,  of  name  or  nobility; 
all  men  have  a  common  Creator,  and  consequently  a 
common  Father  in  God. 


32  world's  religious  congresses. 

"  I  raise  up  my  hands  and  I  bless  with  heart;  ^"^ 
love  the  great  country  and  the  happy,  glorious  peo- 
ple of  the  United  States." 

The  observer  could  not  but  notice  that  the  eyes  of 
the  audience  were  fixed  on  the  Orient,  and  as  they 
listened  to  the  salutations  of  evangelical  Christianity, 
and  Roman  Christianity,  and  Eastern  Christianity, 
in  succession,  expectation  was  raised  to  the  point 
where  relief  seemed  necessary;  and  when  President 
Bonney  presented  P.  C.  Mozoomdar  of  India,  author 
of  the  ''Oriental  Christ,"  and  representative  of  the 
Bralimo  Somaj,  the  audience  greeted  him  with  the 
wildest  applause.  Mozoomdar  had  been  in  this  coun- 
try ten  years  ago;  many  had  heard  him  then,  and 
added  to  their  welcome  to  India  greeting  to  a  friend: 

"Leaders  of  the  Parliament  of  Religions,  men 
and  women  of  America:  The  recognition,  sympa- 
thy, and  welcome  you  have  given  to  India 
to  day  are  gratifying  to  thousands  of  liberal  Hindu 
religious  thinkers,  whose  representatives  I  see 
around  me,  and,  on  behalf  of  my  countrymen,  I  cor- 
dially thank  you.  India  claims  her  place  in  the 
brotherhood  of  mankind,  not  only  because  of  her 
great  antiquity,  but  equally  for  what  has  taken  place 
there  in  recent  times.  Modern  India  has  sprung  fro m 
ancient  India  by  a  law  of  evolution,  a  process  of 
continuity  which  explains  some  of  the  most  difficult 
problems  of  our  national  life.  In  prehistoric  times 
our  forefathers  worshiped  the  great  living  Sjurit 
God,  and,  after  many  strange  vicissitudes,  we  Indian 
theists,  led  by  the  light  of  ages,  worship  the  same 
living  Spirit  God,  and  none  other. 


,  (  •  •      »  •  •  1 


REV.  JOHN  HENRY   BARROWS,  D.  D  , 

Chairman  of  the  Committee  on  Religious  Congresses. 


OPENING  ADDRESSES.  83 

"Perhaps  in  other  ancient  lands  this  law  of  con- 
tinuity has  not  been  so  well  kept.  Egypt  aspired 
to  build  up  the  vast  eternal  in  her  elaborate  symbol- 
ism and  mighty  architecture.  Where  is  Egypt 
to-day?  Passed  away  as  a  mystic  dream  in  her  pyr- 
amids, catacombs,  and  Sphinx  of  the  desert. 

"Greece  tried  to  embody  her  genius  of  wisdom 
and  beauty  in  her  wonderful  creations  of  marble,  in 
her  all-embracing  philosophy;  but  where  is  ancient 
Greece  to-day'^  She  lies  buried  under  her  exquisite 
monuments  and  sleeps  the  sleep  from  which  there  is 
no  waking. 

' '  The  Roman  cohorts  under  whose  victorious  tramp 
the  earth  shook  to  its  center,  the  Roman  theaters, 
laws,  and  institutions  —  w^here  are  they?  Hidden 
behind  the  oblivious  centuries,  or,  if  they  flit  across 
the  mind,  only  point  a  moral  or  adorn  a  tale. 

"The  Hebrews,  the  chosen  of  Jehovah,  with  their 
long  line  of  law  and  i)rophets,  how  are  they? 
Wanderers  on  the  face  of  the  globe,  driven  by  king 
and  kaiser,  the  objects  of  j)ersecution  to  tlje  cruel 
or  objects  of  symi)athy  to  the  kind.  Mount  Moria 
is  in  the  hands  of  the  Mussulman,  Zion  is  silent,  and 
over  the  ruins  of  Solomon's  Temple  a  few  men  beat 
their  breasts  and  wet  their  white  beards  with  their 
tears. 

"But  India,  the  ancient  among  ancients,  the 
elder  of  the  elders,  lives  to-day  with  her  old  civili- 
zation, her  old  laws  and  her  profound  religion. 
The  old  mother  of  the  nations  and  religions  is  still  a 
power  in  the  world;  she  has  often  risen  from  apparent 
death,  and  in  the  future  will  arise  again.    When  the 

3 


34  woeld's  religious  congresses. 

Vedic  faith  declined  in  India  the  esoteric  religion  of 
the  Vedantas  arose;  then  the  everlasting  philosophy 
of  the  Darasanas.  When  these  declined  again  the 
light  of  Asia  arose  and  established  a  standard  of 
moral  perfection  which  will  yet  teach  the  world  a  long 
time.  When  Buddhism  had  its  downfall  the  Shaiva 
and  Yaish  Rava  revived  and  continued  in  the  land 
down  to  the  invasion  of  the  Mohammedans.  The 
Greeks  and  Scythians,  the  Turks  and  Tartars,  the 
Monguls  and  Mussulman  rolled  over  her  country 
like  torrents  of  destruction.  Our  independence,  our 
greatness,  our  prestige  —  all  had  gone,  but  nothing 
could  take  away  our  religious  vitality. 

''We  are  Hindus  still,  and  shall  always  be.  Now 
sits  Christianity  on  the  throne  of  India,  .with  the 
gospel  of  peace  on  one  hand  and  the  scepter  of  civ- 
ilization on  the  other.  Now  it  is  not  the  time 
to  despair  and  die.  Behold  the  aspirations  of 
modern  India  —  intellectual,  social,  political  —  all 
awakened;  our  religious  instincts  stirred  to  the 
roots.  If  that  had  not  been  the  case  do  you  think 
Hindus,  Jains,  Buddhists,  and  others  would  have 
traversed  these  14,000  miles  to  pay  the  tribute  of 
their  sympathy  before  this  august  Parliament  of 
Religions  ? 

''No  individual,  no  denomination  can  more  fully 
sympathize  or  more  heartily  join  your  conferences 
than  we  men  of  the  Brahmo  Somaj,  whose  religion  is 
the  harmony  of  all  religions,  and  whose  congrega- 
tion is  the  brotherhood  of  all  nations. 

"Such,  as  our  aspirations  and  sympathies,  dear 
brethren,  accept  them.     Let  me  thank  you  again  for 


OPET^INa  ADDRESSES.  35 

this  welcome  in  the  name  of  my  countrymen,  and 
wish  every  prosperity  and  success  to  your  labors." 

Perhaps  the  most  remarkable  scene  of  the  day 
occurred  when  President  Bonney  introduced  the 
representative  of  the  Chinese  government  and  of 
Confucianism.  ''We  have  not  treated  China  very 
well  in  this  country,"  remarked  Mr.  Bonney.  "We 
have  sometimes  been  severe  toward  her,  and  some- 
times have  persecuted  her  children,  but  the  Em- 
peror of  China  has  responded  in  a  Christian  spirit  to 
our  call,  and  sent  a  delegate  to  this  congress.  This 
delegate  is  the  Hon.  Pung  Quang  Yu,  secretary  of 
the  Chinese  legation  in  Washington." 

When  Pung  Quang  Yu  came  forward  he  was 
greeted  with  a  furor  of  applause:  Men  and 
women  rose  to  their  feet  in  the  audience,  and  there 
was  a  wild  waving  of  hats  and  handkerchiefs.  The 
delegate' s  speech,  translated  by  his  'secretary,  was 
read  in  ringing  tones  by  Doctor  Barrows: 

' '  On  behalf  of  the  imperial  government  of  China  I 
take  great  plea,sure  in  res^Donding  to  the  cordial 
words  which  the  chairman  of  the  general  committee 
and  others  have  spoken  to-day.  This  is  a  great 
moment  in  the  history  of  nations  and  religions.  For 
the  first  time  men  of  various  faiths  meet  in  one  great 
hall  to  report  what  they  believe  and  the  grounds  for 
their  belief.  The  great  sage  of  China,  who  is  hon- 
ored not  only  by  the  millions  of  our  own  land,  but 
throughout  the  world,  believed  that  duty  was 
summed  up  in  reciprocity,  and  I  think  the  word 
reciprocity  finds  a  new  meaning  and  glory  in  the 
proceedings  of  this  historic  parliament.     I  am  glad 


36 

that  the  great  empire  of  China  has  accepted  the 
invitation  of  those  who  have  called  this  parliament 
and  is  to  be  represented  in  this  great  school  of  com- 
parative religion.  Only  the  happiest  results  will 
come,  I  am  sure,  from  our  meeting  together  in  the 
spirit  of  friendliness.  Each  may  learn  from  the 
other  some  lessons,  I  trust,  of  charity  and  good-will, 
and  discover  what  is  excellent  in  other  faiths  than 
his  own.  In  behalf  of  my  government  and  people  I 
extend  to  the  representatives  gathered  in  this  great 
hall  the  friendliest  salutations,  and  to  those  who 
have  spoken  I  give  my  most  cordial  thanks." 

A  representative  of  the  Shinto  faith,  the  state 
religion  of  Japan,  Rt.-Rev.  Reuchi  Shibata,  was 
next  introduced.  The  bishop  appeared  in  his  full 
pontificals,  and  salaamed  profoundly  toward  the 
audience  and  to  the  right  and  left  when  he  came 
forward.  Mr.  Bonney,  in  his  words  of  introduction, 
alluded  in  appropriate  language  to  the  rapidity  with 
which  Japan  had  advanced  in  the  path  of  modern 
civilization  and  the  peculiar  kindness  felt  by  the 
people  of  this  country  toward  the  people  of  the 
empire  of  the  mikado.  The  Shinto  bishop's  address 
was  read  by  Doctor  Barrows.  It  was  in  these 
words: 

' '  I  can  not  help  doing  honor  to  the  congress  of 
religions  held  here  in  Chicago,  as  the  result  of  the 
partial  effort  of  those  philanthropic  brothers  who 
have  undertaken  this,  the  greatest  meeting  ever 
held.  It  was  fourteen  years  ago  that  I  expressed, 
in  my  own  country,  the  hope  that  there  should  be  a 
friendly  meeting  between  the  world's  religionists, 


OPENING  ADDRESSES.  37 

and  now  I  realize  my  hope  with  great  joy  in  being 
able  to  attend  these  phenomenal  meetings. 

''In  the  history  of  the  past  we  read  of  repeated 
and  fierce  confiicts  between  different  religious  creeds 
which  sometimes  ended  in  war.  But  that  time  has 
passed  away  and  things  have  changed  with  advanc- 
ing civilization.  It  is  a  great  blessing,  not  only  to 
the  religions  themselves,  but  also  to  human  affairs, 
that  the  different  religionists  can  thus  gather  in  a 
friendly  way  and  exchange  their  thoughts  and  opin- 
ions on  the  important  problems  of  the  age. 

"  I  trust  that  these  repeated  meetings  will  gradu- 
ally increase  the  fraternal  relations  between  the  dif- 
ferent religionists  in  investigating  the  truths  of  the 
universe,  and  be  instrumental  in  uniting  all  relig- 
ions of  the  world,  and  in  bringing  all  hostile  nations 
into  peaceful  relations  by  leading  them  to  the  way 
of  perfect  j  ustice. ' ' 

When  he  had  finished  reading,  Doctor  Barrows 
introduced  the  delegation  of  Buddhist  priests,  who 
remained  standing  while  Z.  Noguchi,  their  inter 
preter,  said:  "I  thank  you  on  behalf  of  the  Jap- 
anese Buddhist  priests  for  the  welcome  you  have 
given  us  and  for  the  kind  invitation  to  participate 
in  the  proceedings  of  this  congress." 

The  Orient  has  been  reached,  and  Buddhism  has 
acknowledged  its  welcome,  and  all  eyes  turn  to  one 
of  the  most  winning  figures  on  the  platform,  tall, 
clad  in  white,  soft  and  closely  clinging  robes,  ideal- 
istic face,  gentle  eyes,  waving  black  hair  and  scanty 
beard  —  the  gentle  and  lovable  Dharmapala  of 
Ceylon. 


38  wokld's  religious  congresses. 

''Friends:  I  bring  to  you  the  good  wishes  of 
475,000,000  of  Buddhists,  the  blessings  and  peace  of 
the  religious  founder  of  that  system  which  has  pre- 
vailed so  many  centuries  in  Asia,  which  has  made 
Asia  mild,  and  which  is  to-day  in  its  twenty-fourth 
century  of  existence,  the  prevailing  religion  of  the 
country.  I  have  sacrificed  the  greatest  of  all  work 
to  attend  this  parliament.  I  have  left  the  work  of 
consolidation  —  an  important  work  which  we  have 
begun  after  YOO  years  —  the  work  of  consolidating 
the  different  Buddhist  countries,  which  is  the  most 
important  work  in  the  history  of  modern  Buddhism. 
When  I  read  the  programme  of  this  Parliament  of 
Religions  I  saw  it  was  simply  the  reecho  of  a  great 
consummation  which  the  Indian  Buddhists  accom- 
plished twenty-one  centuries  ago. 

' '  At  that  time  Asoka,  the  great  emperor,  held  a 
council  in  the  city  of  Patna,  of  1,000  scholars,  which 
was  in  session  for  seven  months.  The  proceedings 
were  epitomized  and  carved  on  rock  and  scattered 
all  over  the  Indian  peninsula  and  the  then  known 
globe.  After  the  consummation  of  that  programme 
the  great  emperor  sent  the  gentle  teachers,  the  mild 
disciples  of  Buddha  in  the  garb  that  you  see  on  this 
platform,  to  instruct  the  world.  In  that  plain  garb 
they  went  across  the  deep  rivers,  the  Himalayas, 
to  the  plains  of  Mongolia  and  the  Chinese  plains, 
and  to  the  far-ofl"  beautiful  isles,  the  empire  of  the 
rising  sun;  and  the  influence  of  that  congress  held 
twenty-one  centuries  ago  is  to-day  a  living  power, 
because  you  everywhere  see  mildness  in  Asia. 

"Go  to  any  Buddhist  country,  and  where  do  you 


OPENING   ADDRESSES.  39 

find  such  healthy  compassion  and  tolerance  as  you 
find  there ^  Go  to  Japan,  and  what  do  you  see? 
The  noblest  lessons  of  tolerance  and  gentleness.  Go 
to  any  of  the  Buddhist  countries  and  you  will  see 
the  carrying  out  of  the  programme  adopted  at  the 
congress  called  by  the  Emperor  Asoka. 

''  Why  do  I  come  here  to  day  ?  Because  I  find 
in  this  new  city,  in  this  land  of  freedom,  the  very 
place  where  that  programme  can  also  be  carried 
out.  For  one  year  I  meditated  whether  this  par- 
liament would  be  a  success.  Then  I  wrote  to  Doctor 
Barrows  that  this  would  be  the  proudest  occasion  of 
modern  history  and  the  crowning  work  of  nineteen 
centuries.  Yes,  friends,  if  you  are  serious,  if  you 
are  unselfish,  if  you  are  altruistic,  this  programme 
can  be  carried  out  and  the  twentieth  century  will  see 
the  teachings  of  the  meek  and  lowly  Jesus  accom- 
plished. 

"I  hope  in  this  great  city,  the  youngest  of  all 
cities,  but  the  greatest  of  all  cities,  this  programme 
will  be  carried  out,  and  that  the  name  of  Doctor  Bar- 
rows will  shine  forth  as  the  American  Asoka.  And 
I  hope  that  the  noble  lessons  of  tolerance  learned  in 
this  majestic  assembly  will  result  in  the  dawning  of 
universal  peace  which  will  last  for  twenty  centuries 


A  short  but  most  pleasing  address  was  made  by 
Virchand  A.  Gandhi,  a  lawyer  of  Bombay,  and  one 
of  the  chief  exponents  of  Jain  religion  of  that 
oriental  country.     Mr.  Gandhi  spoke  as  follows: 

"Mr.    President,    ladies  and  gentlemen:    I  will 


40  world's  relighous  congresses. 

not  trouble  you  with  a  long  speech.  I,  like  my 
respected  friends,  Mr,  Mozoomdar  and  others,  come 
from  India,  the  mother  of  religions.  I  represent 
Jainism,  a  faith  older  than  Buddhism,  similar  to 
it  in  its  ethics,  but  different  from  it  in  its  psy- 
chology, and  professed  by  1,500,000  of  India's 
most  XDeaceful  and  law-abiding  citizens.  You  have 
heard  so  many  speeches  from  eloquent  members, 
and  as  I  shall  si3eak  later  on  at  some  length,  I  will 
therefore,  at  present,  only  offer  on  behalf  of  my 
community  and  their  high  priest,  Moni  Atma 
Ranji,  whom  I  especially  represent  here,  our  sincere 
thanks  for  the  kind  welcome  you  have  given  us. 
This  spectacle  of  the  learned  leaders  of  thought  and 
religion  meeting  together  on  a  common  platform, 
and  throwing  light  on  religious  problems,  has  been 
the  dream  of  Atma  Ranji'  s  life.  He  has  commis- 
sioned me  to  say  to  you  that  he  offers  his  most 
cordial  congratulations  on  his  own  behalf,  and  on 
behalf  of  the  Jain  community,  for  your  having 
achieved  the  consummation  of  that  grand  idea  of 
convening  a  parliament  of  religions." 

Professor  C.  N.  Chakravarti,  a  Theosophist, 
from  Allahabad,  India,  responded,  in  these  words: 

''  I  came  here  to  represent  a  religion  the  dawn  of 
which  appeared  in  a  misty  antiquity  which  the 
powerful  microscope  of  modern  research  has  not  yet 
been  able  to  discover;  the  depth  of  whose  begin- 
nings the  plummet  of  history  has  not  been  able  to 
sound.  From  time  immemorial  spirit  has  been 
represented  by   white  and  matter  has  been  repre- 


OPENING  ADDRESSES.  41 

sented  by  black,  and  the  two  sister  streams  which 
join  at  the  town  from  which  I  came,  Allahabad, 
represent  two  sources  of  spirit  and  matter,  accord- 
ing to  the  philosophy  of  my  people.  And  when  I 
think  that  here,  in  this  city  of  Chicago,  this  vortex 
of  physicality,  this  center  of  material  civilization, 
you  hold  a  parliament  of  religions;  when  I  think 
that,  in  the  heart  of  the  World' s  Fair,  where  abound 
all  the  excellencies  of  the  physical  world,  you  have 
provided  also  a  hall  for  the  feast  of  reason  and  the 
flow  of  soul,  I  am  once  more  reminded  of  my  native 
land. 

"Why?  Because  here,  even  here,  I  find  the  same 
two  sister  streams  of  spirit  and  matter,  of  the  intel- 
lect and  physicality,  joining  hand  and  hand,  repre- 
senting the  symbolical  evolution  of  the  universe.  I 
need  hardly  tell  you  that,  in  holding  this  Parlia- 
ment of  Religions,  where  all  the  religions  of  the 
world  are  to  be  represented,  you  have  acted  worth- 
ily of  the  race  that  is  in  the  vanguard  of  civili- 
zation—  a  civilization  the  chief  characteristic  of 
which,  to  my  mind,  is  widening  toleration,  breadth 
of  heart,  and  liberality  toward  all  the  difl:'erent 
religions  of  the  world.  In  allowing  men  of  different 
shades  of  religious  opinion,  and  holding  different 
views  as  to  philosophical  and  metaphysical  prob- 
lems, to  speak  from  the  same  platform  —  aye,  even 
allowing  me,  who,  I  confess,  am  a  heathen,  as  you 
call  me,  to  speak  from  the  same  platform  with 
them  —  you  have  acted  in  a  manner  worthy  of  the 
motherland  of  the  society  which  I  have  come  to 
represent  to-day.      The  fundamental  principle'  of 


42  woeld's  religious  congresses. 

that  society  is  universal  tolerance;  its  cardinal 
belief  that  ixnderneath  the  superficial  strata  runs 
the  living  water  of  truth. 

"I  have  always  felt  that  between  India  and 
America  there  was  a  closer  bond  of  union  in  the 
times  gone  by,  and  I  do  think  it  is  probable  that 
there  may  be  a  subtler  reason  for  the  identity  of 
our  names  than  either  the  theory  of  Johnson  or  the 
mistake  of  Columbus  can  account  for.  It  is  true 
that  I  belong  to  a  religion  which  is  now  decrepit 
with  age,  and  that  you  belong  to  a  race  in  the  first 
flutter  of  life,  bristling  with  energy.  And  yet  you 
can  not  be  surprised  at  the  sympathy  between  us, 
because  you  must  have  observed  the  secret  union 
that  sometimes  exists  between  age  and  childhood. 

"It  is  true  that  in  the  East  we  have  been  accus- 
tomed to  look  toward  something  which  is  beyond 
matter.  We  have  been  taught  for  ages  after  ages 
and  centuries  after  centuries  to  turn  our  gaze 
inward  toward  realms  that  are  not  those  which  are 
reached  by  the  help  of  the  physical  senses.  This 
fact  has  given  rise  to  the  various  schools  of  philos- 
ophy that  exist  to-day  in  India,  exciting  the 
wonder  and  admiration,  not  only  of  the  dead  East, 
but  of  the  living  and  rising  West.  We  have  in 
India,  even  to  this  day,  thousands  of  people  who 
give  up  as  trash,  as  nothing,  all  the  material  com- 
forts and  luxuries  of  life  with  the  hope,  with  the 
realization  that,  great  as  the  physical  body  may  be, 
there  is  something  greater  within  man,  underneath 
the  universe,  that  is  to  be  longed  for  and  striven 
after. 


OPENING   ADDRESSES.  43 

'*In  the  West  you  have  evolved  such  a  stupen- 
dous energy  on  the  physical  plane,  such  unparalleled 
vigor  on  the  intellectual  plane,  that  ifc  strikes  any 
stranger  landing  on  your  shores  vrith  a  strange 
amazement.  And  yet  I  can  read,  even  in  this 
atmosphere  of  material  progress,  I  can  discern 
beneath  this  thickness  of  material  luxury  a  secret 
and  mystic  aspiration  to  something  spiritual. 

*'  I  can  see  that  even  you  are  getting  tired  of  your 
steam,  of  your  electricity,  and  the  thousand  different 
material  comforts  that  follow  these  two  great  powers. 
I  can  see  that  there  is  a  feeling  of  despondency 
coming  even  here  — that  matter  pursued,  however 
vigorously,  can  be  only  to  the  death  of  all,  and  it  is 
only  through  the  clear  atmosphere  of  spirituality 
that  you  can  mount  up  to  the  regions  of  peace  and 
harmony.  In  the  West,  therefore,  you  have  devel- 
oped this  material  tendency.  In  the  East  we  have 
developed  a  great  deal  of  the  spiritual  tendency; 
but  even  in  this  West,  as  I  travel  from  place  to 
place,  from  New  York  to  Cincinnati,  and  from  Cin- 
cinnati to  Chicago,  I  have  observed  an  ever-increas- 
ing readiness  of  people  to  assimilate  spiritual  ideas, 
regardless  of  the  source  from  which  they  emanate. 
This,  ladies  and  gentlemen,  I  consider  a  most 
significant  sign  of  the  future,  because  through  this 
and  through  the  mists  of  prejudice  that  still  hang 
on  the  horizon  will  be  consummated  the  great  event 
of  the  future,  the  union  of  the  East  and  of  the 
West. 

' '  The  East  enjoys  the  sacred  satisfaction  of  hav- 
ing given  birth  to  all  the  great  religions  of  the 


44  world's  religious  congresses. 

world,  and  even  as  the  jjliysical  sun  rises  ever  from 
the  east,  the  sun  of  spirituality  has  always  dawned 
in  the  East.  To  the  West  belongs  the  proud  privi- 
lege of  having  advanced  on  the  intellectual  and  on 
the  moral  plane  and  of  having  supplied  to  the  world 
all  the  various  contrivances  of  material  luxuries  and 
of  physical  comfort.  I  look,  therefore,  upon  a 
union  of  the  East  and  West  as  a  most  significant 
event,  and  I  look  with  great  hope  upon  the  day 
when  the  East  and  the  West  will  be  like  brothers 
helloing  each  other,  each  suj)plying  to  the  other 
what  it  wants  —  the  West  supplying  tlie  vigor,  the 
youth,  the  power  of  organization,  and  the  East 
opening  up  its  inestimable  treasures  of  a  spiritual 
law,  and  which  are  now  locked  up  in  the  treasure 
boxes  grown  rusty  with  age. 

' '  And  I  think  that  this  day,  with  the  sitting  of 
the  Parliament  of  Religions,  we  begin  the  work  of 
building  up  a  perennial  fountain  from  which  will 
flow  for  the  next  century  waters  of  life  and  light 
and  of  peace,  slaking  the  thirst  of  the  thousands  of 
millions  that  are  to  come  after  us." 

Swami  Vivekananda  of  Bombay,  India,  arose,  a 
magnificent  figure  of  manly  beauty,  in  his  orange 
robe  and  turban,  with  striking,  strong,  and  repose- 
ful countenance,  and  said:  "Sisters  and  brothers  of 
America,"  whereupon  there  arose  a  peal  of  applause 
in  acknowledgment  of  the  originality  of  the  saluta- 
tion, and  perhaps  not  less  as  testifying  interest  in 
the  personality  of  the  speaker. 

"It  fills  my  heart  with  joy  unspeakable,"  he 


OPENING   ADDRESSES.  45 

said,  "  to  rise  in  response  to  the  warm  and  cordial 
welcome  which  you  have  given  us.  I  thank  you  in 
the  name  of  the  most  ancient  order  of  monks  in  the 
world;  I  thank  you  in  the  name  of  the  mother  of 
religions,  and  I  thank  you  in  the  name  of  the  millions 
and  millions  of  Hindu  people  of  all  classes  and 
sects. 

"My  thanks,  also,  to  some  of  the  speakers  on  this 
platform  who  have  told  you  that  these  men  from 
far-off  nations  may  well  claim  the  honor  of  bearing 
to  the  different  lands  the  idea  of  toleration.  I  am 
proud  to  belong  to  a  religion  which  has  taught  the 
world  both  tolerance  and  universal  acceptance.  We 
believe  not  only  in  universal  toleration,  but  we 
accept  all  religions  to  be  true.  I  am  proud  to  tell 
you  that  I  belong  to  a  religion  into  whose  sacred 
language,  the  Sanscrit,  the  word  seclusion  is  untrans- 
latable. I  am  proud  to  belong  to  a  nation  which  has 
sheltered  the  persecuted  and  the  refugees  of  all 
religions  and  all  nations  of  the  earth.  I  am  proud 
to  tell  you  that  we  have  gathered  in  our  bosom  the 
purest  remnant  of  the  Israelites,  a  remnant  which 
came  to  Southern  India  and  took  refuge  with  us  in 
the  very  year  in  which  their  holy  temple  was  shat- 
tered to  pieces  by  Roman  tyranny.  I  am  proud  to 
belong  to  the  religion  which  has  sheltered  and  is 
still  fostering  the  remnant  of  the  grand  Zoroastrian 
nation.  I  will  quote  to  you,  brethren,  a  few  lines 
from  a  hymn  which  I  remember  to  have  repeated 
from  my  earliest  boyhood,  which  is  every  day 
repeated  by  millions  of  human  beings:  'As  the 
different  streams  having  their  sources  in  different 


46  world's  religious  congresses. 

places  all  mingle  their  waters  in  the  sea,  O  Lord, 
so  the  different  paths  which  men  take  through 
different  tendencies,  various  though  they  appear, 
crooked  or  straight,  all  lead  to  thee.' 

"The  present  convention,  which  is  one  of  the 
most  august  assemblies  ever  held,  is  in  itself  a  vin- 
dication, a  declaration  to  the  world  of  the  wonderful 
doctrine  preached  in  Gita,  'Whosoever  comes  to 
me,  through  whatsoever  form  I  reach  him,  they  are 
all  struggling  through  paths  that  in  the  end  always 
lead  to  me.'  Sectarianism,  bigotry,  and  its  horrible 
descendant,  fanaticism,  have  possessed  long  this 
beautiful  earth.  It  has  filled  the  earth  with  vio- 
lence, drenched  it  often  and  often  with  human 
blood,  destroyed  civilization,  and  sent  whole  nations 
to  despair.  Had  it  not  been  for  this  horrible  demon 
human  society  would  be  far  more  advanced  than  it 
is  now.  But  its  time  has  come,  and  I  fervently  hope 
that  the  bell  that  tolled  this  morning  in  honor  of 
this  convention  will  be  the  death-knell  to  all  fanat- 
icism, to  all  persecutions  with  the  sword  or  the  pen, 
and  to  all  uncharitable  feelings  between  persons 
wending  their  way  to  the  same  goal." 

Many  eyes  have  rested  upon  a  sweet -faced  woman 
in  oriental  dress,  and  when  Doctor  Barrow^s  intro- 
duced Miss  Jeanne  Sorabji,  from  far-off  India,  many 
were  surprised  to  learn  that  she  was  an  earnest 
Christian  convert  with  a  sweet  and  simple  faith  to 
testify. 

"  Doctor  Barrows  just  told  you  that  I  belonged  to 
the  order  of  Parsee.    He  is  correct  in  one  way  and  not 


OPE]S^ING  ADDRESSES.  47 

in  another.  My  people  were  fire-worshipers,  but  I 
am  not  now.  Before  I  go  on  further  I  wish  to  thank 
all  those  who  have  extended  their  welcome  to  us. 
This  morning  as  I  looked  around  and  saw  the  many- 
faces  that  greeted  a  welcome  I  felt  indeed  that  it 
was  the  best  day  I  have  seen  in  Chicago.  I  have 
been  here  for  some  time,  and  I  have  asked  the  ques- 
tion over  and  over  again:  '  Where  is  religious 
America  to  be  found  —  Christian  America  ? '  To-day 
I  see  it  all  around  me.  You  have  given  me  a  wel- 
come. I  will  give  you  a  greeting  from  my  country. 
When  we  meet  one  another  in  our  land  the  first 
thing  we  say  to  each  other  is  '  Peace  be  with  you.' 
I  say  it  to  you  to-day  in  all  sincerity,  in  all  love.  I 
feel  to-day  that  the  great  banner  over  us  is  the  ban- 
ner of  love.  I  feel  to-day  more  than  ever  that  it  is 
beautiful  to  belong  to  the  family  of  Grod,  to  acknowl- 
edge the  Lord  Christ. 

•'  My  father,  at  the  age  of  eighteen,  was  brought  to 
the  knowledge  of  Christ  by  the  light  of  an  English 
missionary.  He  gave  up  friends  and  countrymen, 
rank,  and  wealth,  and  money,  to  be  a  disciple  of  the 
Lord  Jesus  Christ;  and  I  tell  you,  friends,  that  it  is 
a  great  privilege  and  a  great  honor  to  be  able  to 
stand  here  and  say  to  you  that  I  love  that  Lord 
Christ,  and  I  will  stand  by  him  and  under  his  ban- 
ner until  the  end  of  my  life. 

' '  I  would  close  with  one  little  message  from  my 
countrywomen.  When  I  was  leaving  the  shores  of 
Bombay  the  women  of  my  country  wanted  to  know 
where  I  was  going,  and  I  told  them  I  was  going  to 
America  on  a  visit.    They  asked  me  whether  T  would 


48  world's  keligious  congresses. 

be  at  this  congress.  I  thought  then  I  would  only 
come  in  as  one  of  the  audience,  but  I  have  the  great 
privilege  and  honor  given  to  me  to  stand  here  and 
speak  to  you,  and  I  give  you  the  message  as  it  was 
given  to  me.  The  Christian  women  of  my  land 
said:  '  Give  the  women  of  America  our  love  and 
tell  them  that  we  love  Jesus,  and  that  we  shall 
always  pray  that  our  countrywomen  may  do  the 
same.  Tell  the  women  of  America  that  we  are  fast 
being  educated.  We  shall  one  day  be  able  to  stand 
by  them  and  converse  with  them  and  be  able  to 
delight  in  all  they  delight  in.' 

"And  so  I  have  a  message  from  each  one  of  my 
countrywomen,  and  once  more  I  will  just  say  that  I 
haven't  words  enough  in  which  to  thank  you  for  the 
welcome  you  have  given  to  all  those  who  have  come 
here  from  the  East.  When  I  came  here  this  morn- 
ing and  saw  my  countrymen  my  heart  was  warmed, 
and  I  thought  I  would  never  feel  homesick  again, 
and  I  feel  to-day  as  if  I  were  at  home.  Seeing  your 
kindly  faces  has  turned  away  the  heartache. 

"  We  are  all  under  the  one  banner,  love.  In  the 
name  of  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ,  I  thank  you.  You 
will  hear  possibly  the  words  in  his  own  voice  saying 
unto  you,  *  Inasmuch  as  ye  have  done  it  unto  the 
least  of  these,  my  brethren,  ye  have  done  it  unto 
me.'  " 

Salutations  and  responses  from  many  Christians 
I  have  omitted.  They  contained  nothing  new,  and 
little  that  was  strong  in  promise,  beyond  the  fact 
of  interest  in  what  was  to  follow,  except  one,  which 


OPENINU   ADDRESSES.  49 

I  bave  saved  to  conclude  tlie  review  of  the  opening 
day  because  of  its  originality.  When  Prince  Serge 
Wolkonsky  of  Russia  v^as  introduced  he  expressed 
thanks  for  the  honor  of  the  invitation,  the  more 
because  he  was  not  an  ecclesiastic,  nor  a  representa- 
tive of  his  government  at  the  parliament,  and  could 
only  respond  as  a  man  — a  true  prince  among  men, 
many  said  of  him. 

"Those  who  during  the  last  week  have  had  the 
opportunity  of  attending  not  only  the  congresses  of 
one  single  church,  but  who  could  witness  different 
congresses  of  different  churches  and  congregations, 
must  have  been  struck  with  a  noticeable  fact.  They 
went  to  the  Catholic  congress  and  heard  beautiful 
words  of  charity  and  love.  Splendid  orators  invoked 
the  blessings  of  heaven  ui)oii  the  children  of  the  Cath- 
olic church,  and  in  eloquent  terms  the  listeners  were 
entreated  to  love  their  human  brothers,  in  the  name 
of  the  Catholic  church.  They  went  to  the  Lutheran 
congress  and  heard  splendid  wordb  of  humanity  and 
brotherhood,  orators  inspired  with  love,  and  the 
blessing  of  God  invoked  on  the  children  of  the 
Lutheran  church.  Those  who  were  present  were 
taught  to  love  their  human  brothers,  in  the  name  of 
the  Lutheran  church.  They  went  to  other  more 
limited  congresses,  and  everywhere  they  heard  these 
same  great  words,  proclaiming  these  same  great 
ideas  and  inspiring  these  same  great  feelings.  They 
saw  a  Catholic  archbishop  who  went  to  a  Jewish 
congress  and  with  fiery  eloquence  brought  feelings 
of  brotherhood  to  his  Hebraic  sisters.  Not  in  one 
of  these  congresses  did  a  speaker  forget  that  he 


50 

belonged  to  humanity,  and  that  his  own  church  or 
congregation  was  but  a  starting-point,  a  center,  for 
a  further  radiation. 

"  This  is  the  noticeable  fact  that  must  have  struck 
everybody,  and  everybody  must  have  asked  himself 
at  the  end  of  the  week:  '  Why  don' t  they  come 
together,  all  these  people  who  all  speak  the  same 
language?  Why  do  not  all  these  splendid  orators 
unite  their  voices  in  one  single  chorus,  and,  if  they 
preach  the  same  ideas,  why  don't  they  proclaim 
them  in  the  name  of  the  same  and  single  truth  that 
inspires  them  all?'  This  seems  to  have  been  the 
idea  of  those  who,  in  composing  the  programmes  of 
the  religious  congresses,  decided  that  the  general 
religious  congress  should  follow  the  minor  ones. 
To-night,  in  fact,  we  see  the  representatives  of  dif- 
ferent churches  gathered  together  and  actuated  with 
one  common  desire  of  union. 

"Being  called  to  welcome  it  on  the  day  of  its  open- 
ing, I  will  take  the  liberty  of  relating  to  you  a  pop- 
ular legend  of  my  country.  The  story  may  appear 
rather  too  humorous  for  the  occasion,  but  one  of 
our  national  writers  says:  'Humor  is  an  invisible 
tear  through  a  visible  smile,'  and  we  think  that 
human  tears,  human  sorrow  and  pain  are  sacred 
enough  to  be  brought  even  before  a  religious  con- 
gress. 

"There  was  an  old  woman  who  for  many  cent- 
uries suffered  tortures  in  the  flames  of  hell,  for  she 
had  been  a  great  sinner  during  her  earthly  life. 
One  day  she  saw  far  away  in  the  distance  an  angel 
taking  his  flight  through  the  blue  skies;  and  with 


OPENING  ADDRESSES.  61 

the  whole  strength  of  her  voice  she  called  to  him. 
The  call  must  have  been  desperate,  for  the  angel 
stopped  in  his  flight,  and  coming  down  to  her  asked 
her  what  she  wanted. 

"  '  When  you  reach  the  throne  of  God,'  she  said, 
'tell  him  that  a  miserable  creature  has  suffered 
more  than  she  can  bear,  and  that  she  asks  the  Lord 
to  be  delivered  from  these  tortures.' 

"The  angel  promised  to  do  so,  and  flew  away. 
When  he  had  transmitted  the  message,  God  said: 

''  'Ask  her  whether  she  has  done  any  good  to  any 
one  during  her  life.' 

"The  old  woman  strained  her  memory  in  search  of. 
a  good  action  during  her  sinful  past,  and  all  at 
once:  'I've  got  one,'  she  Joyfully  exclaimed; 
'  one  day  I  gave  a  carrot  to  a  hungry  beggar.' 

' '  The  angel  reported  the  answer. 

"  'Take  a  carrot,'  said  God  to  the  angel,  'and 
stretch  it  out  to  her.  Let  her  grasp  it,  and  if  the 
plant  is  strong  enough  to  draw  her  out  from  hell 
she  shall  be  saved.' 

"  This  the  angel  did.  The  poor  old  woman  clung 
to  the  carrot.  The  angel  began  to  pull,  and,  lo!  she 
began  to  rise.  But  when  her  body  was  half  out  of 
the  flames  she  felt  a  weight  at  her  feet.  Another 
sinner  was  clinging  to  her.  She  kicked,  but  it  did 
not  help.  The  sinner  would  not  let  go  his  hold, 
and  the  angel,  continuing  to  pull,  was  lifting  them 
both.  But,  oh!  another  sinner  clung  to  them,  and 
then  a  third,  and  more,  and  always  more  —  a  chain 
of  miserable  creatures  hung  at  the  old  woman's 
feet.     The  angel  never  ceased  pulling.     It  did  not 


52 

seem  to  be  any  heavier  than  a  small  carrot  could 
support,  and  they  all  were  lifted  in  the  air.  But 
the  old  woman  suddenly  took  fright.  Too  many 
people  were  availing  themselves  of  her  last  chance 
of  salvation,  and,  kicking  and  pushing  those  who 
were  clinging  to  her,  she  exclaimed:  '  Leave  me 
alone!  hands  off  !  the  carrot  is  mine.' 

* '  1^0  sooner  had  she  pronounced  this  word  '  mine ' 
than  the  tiny  stem  broke,  and  they  all  fell  back  to 
hell,  and  forever. 

"  In  its  poetical  artlessness  and  popular  simplicity 
this  legend  is  too  eloquent  to  need  interpretation. 
If  any  individual,  any  community,  any  congrega- 
tion, any  church,  possesses  a  portion  of  truth  and 
of  good,  let  that  truth  shine  for  everybody;  let  that 
good  become  the  property  of  everyone.  The  substi- 
tution of  the  word  '  mine '  by  the  word  '  ours '  and 
that  of  'ours'  by  the  word  'everyone's'  —  this  is 
what  will  secure  a  fruitful  result  to  our  collective 
efforts  as  well  as  to  our  individual  activities. 

"  This  is  why  we  welcome  and  greet  the  opening  of 
this  congress,  where,  in  a  combined  effort  of  the 
representatives  of  all  churches,  all  that  is  great  and 
good  and  true  in  each  of  them  is  brought  together 
in  the  name  of  the  same  God  and  for  the  sake  of  the 
same  man. 

"  We  congratulate  the  president,  the  members,  and 
all  the  listeners  of  this  congress  upon  the  tendency 
of  union  that  has  gathered  them  on  the  soil  of  the 
country  whose  allegorical  eagle,  spreading  her 
mighty  wings  over  the  stars  and  stripes,  holds  in  her 
talons  those  splendid  words,  '  E  Pluribus  Unum.'  " 


CHAPTER  III. 

A   RELIGIOUS   SYMPOSIUM. 

THOSE  who  kept  files  of  the  full  reports  in  the 
daily  press  of  the  addresses  before  the  parlia- 
ment, or  who  look  forward  to  the  official  pub- 
lication of  the  proceedings  with  the  intention  of 
reviewing  these  deliverances,  are  likely  to  be  appalled 
at  the  magnitude  of  the  undertaking  when  they  shall 
seriously  approach  it.  A  lack  of  classification  in 
the  programme  makes  the  systematic  arrangement 
of  opinion  on  the  great  subjects  of  religion  a  work 
of  toil,  even  for  an  expert.  Each  man  speaks  as  if 
he  had  the  whole  field  before  liim,  and  therefore  of 
many  things  which  throw  no  light  upon  the  specific 
system  of  thought  which  he  represents.  The  popu- 
lar interest  in  seeing  and  hearing  many  rei^resenta- 
tive  men  doubtless  determined  the  idea  of  the 
programme,  but  the  permanent  value  of  the  result 
is  greatly  diminished  by  the  excessive  amount  of 
redundant  and  indeterminate  discourse. 

My  own  idea  of  the  most  useful  order  of  pro- 
gramme, proposed  at  the  outset  and  urged  through- 
out, was  an  arrangement  of  great  subjects:  God, 
Revelation,  Sin  and  Reconciliation,  Conduct  of 
Life,  Immortality,  etc.  "What  have  you  to  say  of 
Ood?"  Let  the  Hindu  answer,  the  Buddhist,  the 
Parsee,    the    Mohammedan,   the    Jew,    the    Greek 

(53) 


54 

Christian,  the  Catholic,  and  so  on,  in  brief,  specific, 
and  inclusive  statements.  Then  propound  the  next 
subject  and  follow  in  the  same  order.  If  this  dream 
of  a  religious  symposium  had  been  practicable,  the 
result  would  have  been  a  most  complete  cyclopedia 
of  religious  thought,  showing  at  a  glance  what  is 
common  and  what  is  distinctive  in  existing  faiths 
on  any  subject.  The  interest  centered,  however,  in 
great  men  rather  than  in  great  subjects;  and  the 
addresses,  not  having  as  an  aim  definite  statements 
on  specific  questions,  present  a  collection  of  ideas 
so  vast  as  to  almost  defy  the  classification  necessary 
to  helpful  comparison. 

Whatever  of  permanent  value  is  to  result  from  the 
congress  of  religions,  apart  from  coming  together 
in  friendly  interchange  and  tlie  breaking  of  preju- 
dice, must  come  from  comparison  of  views;  and 
before  there  can  be  such  comparison  there  must  be 
some  arrangement.  I  propose,  therefore,  in  this 
chapter  to  attempt  to  bring  into  contrast  some  of 
the  more  important  deliverances,  first  in  general,  and 
then  more  briefly  under  specific  subjects. 

We  may  for  the  purpose  of  a  general  comparison 
set  over  against  each  other  some  extended  passages 
from  representatives  of  Hinduism,  orthodox  and 
liberal  Christianity,  Buddhism,  Judaism,  Moham- 
medanism, and  the  Roman  Catholic  and  Greek 
churches,  together  with  some  foreign  criticism  and 
appeal. 

THE  HINDU. 

Swami  Yivekananda  may  probably  be  considered 
as  a  fair  exponent  of  what  Hinduism  is  with  the 
liberally  educated  men  of  India: 


A  RELIGIOUS   SYMPOSIUM.  55 

''Three  religions  now  stand  in  the  world  which 
have  come  down  to  us  from  time  prehistoric  —  Hin- 
duism ,  Zoroa  strianism,  and  Jud aism.  These  all  have 
received  tremendous  shocks,  and  all  of  them  prove 
by  their  revival  their  internal  strength;  but  Judaism 
failed  to  absorb  Christianity,  and  was  driven  out  of 
its  place  of  birth  by  its  all-conquering  daughter. 
Sect  after  sect  has  arisen  in  India,  and  seemed  to 
shake  the  religion  of  the  Yedas  to  its  very  founda- 
tions, but,  like  the  waters  of  the  seashore  in  a  tre- 
mendous earthquake,  it  has  receded  for  awhile,  only 
to  return  in  an  all-absorbing  flood;  and  when  the 
tumult  of  the  rush  was  over  these  sects  had  been  all 
sucked  in,  absorbed,  and  assimilated  in  the  immense 
body  of  another  faith. 

"  From  the  high  spiritual  flights  of  philosophy, 
of  which  the  latest  discoveries  of  science  seem  like 
echoes,  from  the  atheism  of  the  Jains  to  the  low 
ideas  of  idolatry  and  the  multifarious  mythologies, 
each  and  all  have  a  place  in  the  Hindu's  religion. 

"Where  then,  the  question  arises,  v/here  then  the 
common  center  to  which  all  these  widely  diverging 
radii  converge  ?  Where  is  the  common  basis  upon 
which  all  these  seemingly  hopeless  contradictions 
rest?  And  this  is  the  question  which  I  shall  at- 
tempt to  answer. 

"The  Hindus  have  received  their  religion  through 
the  revelation  of  the  Yedas.  They  hold  that  the 
Vedas  are  without  beginning  and  without  end.  It 
may  sound  ludicrous  to  this  audience  how  a  book 
can  be  without  beginning  or  end.  But  by  the  Vedas 
no  books  are  meant.     They  mean  the  accumulated 


56  world's  eeligious  congresses. 

treasury  of  spiritual  laws  discovered  by  different 
persons  in  different  times.  Just  as  the  law  of  gravi- 
tation existed  before  its  discovery,  and  would  exist 
if  all  humanity  forgot  it,  so  with  the  laws  that  gov- 
ern the  spiritual  world;  the  moral,  ethical,  and  spir- 
itual relations  between  soul  and  soul,  and  between 
individual  spirits  and  the  Father  of  all  spirits,  were 
there  before  their  discovery,  and  would  remain  even 
if  we  forgot  them. 

"The  discoverers  of  these  laws  are  called  Rishis, 
and  we  honor  them  as  perfected  beings,  and  I  am 
glad  to  tell  this  audience  that  some  of  the  very  best 
of  them  were  women. 

"Here  it  may  be  said  that  the  laws,  as  laws,  may 
be  without  end,  but  they  must  have  had  a  begin- 
ning. The  Vedas  teach  us  that  creation  is  without 
beginning  or  end.  Science  has  proved  to  us  that  the 
sum  total  of  the  cosmic  energy  is  the  same  through- 
out all  time.  Then,  if  there  was  a  time  when  noth- 
ing existed,  where  was  all  tliis  manifested  energy  ? 
Some  say  it  was  in  a  potential  form  in  God.  But 
then  God  is  sometimes  potential  and  sometimes 
kinetic,  which  would  make  him  mutable,  and  every- 
thing mutable  is  a  compound,  and  everything  com- 
pound must  undergo  that  change  which  is  called 
destruction.  Therefore,  God  would  die.  There- 
fore, there  never  was  a  time  when  there  was  no  crea- 
tion. 

"  Well,  then,  the  human  soul  is  eternal  and  im- 
mortal, perfect  and  infinite,  and  death  means  only  a 
change  of  center  from  one  body  to  another.  The 
present  is  determined  by  our  past  actions,  and  the  f  ut- 


A  RELIGIOUS  SYMPOSIUM.  67 

ure  will  be  by  the  present.  The  soul  will  go  on  evolv- 
ing up  or  reverting  back  from  birth  to  birth  and 
death  to  death,  like  a  tiny  boat  in  a  tempest,  raised 
one  moment  on  the  foaming  crest  of  a  billow  and 
dashed  down  into  a  yawning  chasm  the  next,  rollings 
to  and  fro  at  the  mercy  of  good  and  bad  actions,  a 
powerless,  helpless  wreck  in  an  ever-raging,  ever- 
rushing,  uncompromising  current  of  cause  and 
effect;  a  little  moth  placed  under  the  wheel  of  caus- 
ation, which  rolls  on  crushing  everything  in  its  way, 
and  waits  not  for  the  widow's  tears  or  the  orphan's 
cry. 

"The  heart  sinks  at  the  idea,  yet  this  is  the  law 
of  nature.  Is  there  no  hope  ?  Is  there  no  escape  1 
The  cry  that  went  up  from  the  bottom  of  the  heart 
of  despair  reached  the  throne  of  mercy,  and  words 
of  hope  and  consolation  came  dowm  and  inspired  a 
Vedic  sage,  and  he  stood  up  before  the  world  and  in 
trumx)et  voice  proclaimed  the  glad  tidings  to  the 
world:  '  Hear,  ye  children  of  immortal  bliss,  even 
ye  that  resisted  in  higher  spheres;  I  have  found  the 
ancient  one,  who  is  beyond  all  darkness,  all  delu- 
sion, and  knowing  him  alone  you  shall  be  saved 
from  death  again.'  'Children  of  immortal  bliss!' 
What  a  sweet,  what  a  hopeful  name!  Allow  me  to 
call  you,  brethren,  by  that  sweet  name,  'heirs  of 
immortal  bliss  ' ;  yea,  the  Hindu  refuses  to  call  you 
sinners. 

"Thus  it  is  the  Vedas  proclaim,  not  a  dreadful 
combination  of  unforgiving  laws,  not  an  endless 
prison  of  cause  and  effect,  but  that,  at  the  head  of 
all  these  laws,  in  and  through  every  particle  of  mat- 


68  woeld's  religious  congresses. 

ter  and  force,  stands  one  '  through  whose  command 
the  wind  blows,  the  fire  burns,  the  clouds  rain,  and 
death  stalks  upon  the  earth.'  And  what  is  his 
nature? 

"He  is  everywhere,  the  pure  and  formless  one, 
the  almighty,  and  the  all- merciful.  '  Thou  art  our 
father,  thou  art  our  mother,  thou  art  our  beloved 
friend,  thou  art  the  source  of  all  strength.  Thou 
art  he  that  bearest  the  burdens  of  the  universe;  help 
me  bear  the  little  burden  of  this  life.'  Thus  sang 
the  E-ishis  of  the  Veda.  And  how  to  worship  him? 
Through  love.'  '  He  is  to  be  worshiped  as  the  one 
beloved  dearer  than  everything  in  this  and  the  next 
life.' 

"This  is  the  doctrine  of  love  preached  in  the 
Vedas,  and  let  us  see  how  it  is  fully  developed  and 
preached  by  Krishna,  whom  the  Hindus  believe  to 
have  been  God  incarnate  on  earth. 

' '  He  taught  that  a  man  ought  to  live  in  this  world 
like  a  lotus  leaf,  which  grows  in  water  but  is  never 
moistened  by  water;  so  a  man  ought  to  live  in  this 
world  —  his  heart  for  God  and  his  hands  for  work. 

"  It  is  good  to  love  God  for  hope  of  reward  in  this 
or  the  next  world,  but  it  is  better  to  love  God  for 
love's  sake;  and  the  prayer  goes,  'Lord,  I  do  not 
want  wealth,  nor  children,  nor  learning.  If  it  be 
thy  will  I  will  go  to  a  hundred  hells,  but  grant  me 
this,  that  I  may  love  thee  without  the  hope  of  reward 
—  unselfishly  love  for  love' s  sake. '  One  of  the  disci- 
ples of  Krishna,  the  then  Emperor  of  India,  was 
driven  from  his  throne  by  his  enemies  and  had  to 
take  shelter  in  a  forest  in  the  Himalayas  with  his 


A   RELIGIOUS  SYMPOSIUM.  09 

queen,  and  there  one  day  the  queen  was  asking  him 
how  it  was  that  he,  the  most  virtuous  of  men, 
should  suffer  so  much  misery,  and  Yuchistera 
answered:  'Behold,  my  queen,  the  Himalayas, 
how  grand  and  beautiful  they  are!  I  love  them. 
They  do  not  give  me  anything,  but  my  nature  is  to 
love  the  grand,  the  beautiful,  therefore  I  love  them; 
similarly,  I  love  the  Lord.  He  is  the  source  of  all 
beauty,  of  all  sublimity.  He  is  the  only  object  to 
be  loved.  My  nature  is  to  love  him,  and  therefore 
I  love.  I  do  not  pray  for  anything.  I  do  not  ask 
for  anything.  Let  him  place  me  wherever  he  likes. 
I  must  live  for  love's  sake.     I  can  not  trade  in  love.' 

''The  Yedas  teach  that  the  soul  is  divine,  only 
held  under  bondage  of  matter,  and  perfection  will 
be  reached  when  the  bond  shall  burst,  and  the  word 
they  use  is,  therefore,  Mukto  —  freedom  —  freedom 
from  the  bonds  of  imperfection;  freedom  frona  death 
and  misery. 

"And  they  teach  that  this  bondage  can  only  fall 
off  through  the  mercy  of  God,  and  this  mercy  comes 
to  the  pure.  So  purity  is  the  condition  of  his 
mercy.  How  that  mercy  acts!  He  reveals  himself 
to  the  i)ure  heart,  and  the  pure  and  stainless  man 
sees  God,  yea,  even  in  this  life;  and  then,  and  then 
only,  all  the  crookedness  of  the  heart  is  made 
straight.  Then  all  doubt  ceases.  Man  is  no  more 
the  freak  of  a  terrible  law  of  causation.  So  this  is 
the  very  center,  the  very  vital  conception,  of  Hin- 
duism. The  Hindu  does  not  want  to  live  upon 
words  and  theories  —  if  there  are  existences  beyond 
the  ordinary  sensual  existence,   he  wants  to  come 


60  world's  religious  congresses. 

face  to  face  with  them.  If  there  is  a  soul  in  him 
which  is  not  matter,  if  there  is  an  all-merciful 
universal  soul,  he  will  go  to  him  direct.  He  must 
see  him,  and  that  alone  can  destroy  all  doubts.  So 
the  best  proof  a  Hindu  sage  gives  about  the  soul, 
about  God,  is,  '  I  have  seen  the  soul,  I  have  seen 
God: 

"And  that  is  the  only  condition  of  perfection. 
The  Hindu  religion  does  not  consist  in  struggles  and 
attempts  to  believe  a  certain  doctrine  and  dogma, 
but  in  realizing  —  not  in  believing,  but  in  being  and 
becoming.  So  the  whole  struggle  in  their  system 
is  a  constant  struggle  to  become  perfect,  to  become 
divine,  to  reach  God  and  see  God;  and  in  this  reach- 
ing God,  seeing  God,  becoming  perfect,  even  as  the 
Father  in  heaven  is  perfect,  consists  the  religion  of 
the  Hindus.  And  what  becomes  of  man  when  he 
becomes  perfect?  He  lives  a  life  of  bliss,  infinite. 
He  enjoys  infinite  and  perfect  bliss,  having  obtained 
the  only  thing  in  which  man  ought  to  have  pleas- 
ure—  God  —  and  enjoys  the  bliss  with  God. 

"  So  far  all  the  Hindus  are  agreed  —  this  is  the 
common  religion  of  all  the  sects  of  India;  but  then 
the  question  comes  —  perfection  is  absolute,  and  the 
absolute  can  not  be  two  or  three.  It  can  not  have 
any  qualities;  it  can  not  be  an  individual ;  and  so  when 
a  soul  becomes  perfect  and  absolute  it  must  become 
one  with  the  Brahma,  and  he  would  only  realize  the 
Lord  as  the  perfection,  the  reality,  of  his  own 
nature  and  existence  —  existence  absolute;  knowl- 
edge absolute,  and  life  absolute.  We  have  often 
and  often  read  about  this  being  called  the  losing  of 


A   RELIGIOUS   SYMPOSIUM.  61 

individuality,  as  in  becoming  a  stock  or  a  stone. 
'He  jests  at  scars  that  never  felt  a  wound  ' 

"I  tell  you  it  is  nothing  of  the  kind.  If  it  is 
happiness  to  enjoy  the  consciousness  of  this  small 
body,  it  must  be  more  happiness  to  enjoy  the  con- 
sciousness of  two  bodies,  or  three,  four,  five  — 
and  the  ultimate  of  happiness  would  be  reached 
when  it  would  become  a  universal  consciousness. 

"Therefore,  to  gain  this  infinite  universal  individ- 
uality, this  miserable  little  individuality  must  go. 
Then  alone  can  death  cease,  wlien  I  am  one  with 
life.  Then  alone  can  misery  cease,  when  I  am  with 
happiness  itself.  Then  alone  can  all  errors  cease, 
when  I  am  one  with  knowledge  itself." 

Speaking  later  of  the  religion  of  the  simple- 
minded  he  said,  "There  is  no  polytheism  in  India," 
and  the  use  of  images  "is  not  idolatry."  Continu- 
ing, he  said: 

"  SuiDerstition  is  the  enemy  of  man,  but  bigotry  is 
worse.  Why  does  a  Christian  go  to  church  ?  Why 
is  the  cross  holy  ?  Why  is  the  face  turned  toward 
the  sky  in  prayer  ?  Why  are  there  so  many  images 
in  the  Catholic  church?  Why  are  there  so  many 
images  in  the  minds  of  Protestants  when  they  pray? 
My  brethren,  we  can  no  more  think  about  anything 
without  a  material  image  than  we  can  live  without 
breathing.  And  by  the  law  of  association  the  mate- 
rial image  calls  the  mental  idea  up,  and  vice  versa. 
Omnipresence,  to  almost  the  whole  world,  means 
nothing.  Has  God  superficial  area?  If  not,  when 
we  repeat  the  word  we  think  of  the  extended  earth, 
that  is  all. 


62  world's  religious  congresses. 

"As  we  find  that  somehow  or  other,  by  the  laws 
of  our  constitution,  we  have  got  to  associate  our 
ideas  of  infinity  with  the  image  of  a  blue  sky  or  a 
sea,  some  cover  the  idea  of  holiness  with  an  image 
of  a  church  or  a  mosque,  or  a  cross.  The  Hindus 
have  associated  the  ideas  of  holiness,  purity,  truth, 
omnipresence,  and  all  other  ideas  with  different 
images  and  forms ;  but  with  this  difference:  Some 
devote  their  whole  lives  to  their  idol  of  a  church  and 
never  rise  higher,  because  with  them  religion  means 
an  intellectual  assent  to  certain  doctrines  and  doing 
good  to  their  fellows.  The  whole  religion  of  the 
Hindu  is  centered  in  realization.  Man  is  to  become 
divine,  realizing  the  divine,  and  therefore  idol  or 
temple,  or  church  or  books,  are  only  the  supports, 
the  helps,  of  his  spiritual  childhood;  but  on  and  on 
man  must  progress. 

"He  must  not  stop  anywhere.  'External  wor- 
ship, material  worship,'  says  the  Vedas,  'is  the  low- 
est stage;  struggling  to  rise  high,  mental  prayer  is 
the  next  stage;  but  the  highest  stage  is  when  the 
Lord  has  been  realized.'  Mark  the  same  earnest 
man  who  was  kneeling  before  the  idol  tell  you, 
'  Him  the  sun  can  not  express,  nor  the  moon,  nor  the 
stars;  the  lightning  can  not  express  him,  nor  the 
fire;  throughhim  they  all  shine.'  He  does  not  abuse 
the  image  or  call  it  sinful.  He  recognizes  in  it  a 
necessary  stage  of  his  life.  '  The  child  is  father  of 
the  man.'  Would  it  be  right  for  the  old  man  to  say 
that  childhood  is  a  sin,  or  youth  a  sin  1  Nor  is  it 
compulsory  in  Hinduism. 

"  If  a  man  can  realize  his  divine  nature  with  the 


A  RELIGIOUS   SYMPOSIUM.  63 

help  of  an  image,  would  it  be  right  to  call  it  a  sin  ? 
Nor,  even  when  he  has  passed  that  stage,  should  he 
call  it  an  error.  To  the  Hindu,  man  is  not  travel- 
ing from  error  to  truth,  but  from  truth  to  truth, 
from  lower  to  higher  truth.  To  him  all  the  religions, 
from  the  lowest  fetishism  to  the  highest  absolutism, 
mean  so  many  attempts  of  the  human  soul  to  grasp 
and  realize  the  infinite,  each  determined  by  the  con- 
ditions of  its  birth  and  association,  and  each  of  these 
mark  a  stage  of  progress,  and  every  soul  is  a  young 
eagle  soaring  higher  and  higher,  gathering  more  and 
more  strength  till  it  reaches  the  glorious  sun." 

Concluding,  he  said :  "If  there  is  ever  to  be  a  uni- 
versal religion  it  must  be  one  which  will  hold  no 
location  in  place  or  time;  which  will  be  infinite,  like 
the  God  it  will  preach;  whose  sun  shines  upon  the 
followers  of  Krishna  or  Christ,  saints  or  sinners, 
alike;  which  will  not  be  the  Brahmin  or  Buddhist, 
Christian  or  Mohammedan,  but  the  sum  total  of  all 
these,  and  still  have  infinite  space  for  development; 
which  in  its  catholicity  will  embrace  in  its  infinite 
arms  and  find  a  place  for  every  human  being,  from 
the  lowest  groveling  man,  from  the  brute,  to  tbe 
highest  mind  towering  almost  above  humanity  and 
making  society  stand  in  awe  and  doubt  his  human 
nature. 

''  It  will  be  a  religion  which  will  have  no  place  for 
persecution  or  intolerance  in  its  polity,  which  will 
recognize  a  divinity  in  every  man  or  woman,  and 
whose  whole  scope,  whose  whole  force,  will  be  cen- 
tered in  aiding  humanity  to  realize  its  divine  nature. 


64  world's  religious  congresses. 

"Asoka's  council  was  a  council  of  the  Buddhist 
faith.  Akbar's,  though  more  to  the  purpose,  was 
only  a  parlor  meeting.  It  was  reserved  for  America 
to  proclaim  to  all  quarters  of  the  globe  that  the  Lord 
is  in  every  religion. 

"  May  he  who  is  the  Brahma  of  the  Hindus,  the 
Ahura  Mazda  of  the  Zoroastrians,  the  Buddha  of 
the  Buddhists,  the  Jehovah  of  the  Jews,  the  Father 
in  heaven  of  the  Christians,  give  strength  to  you  to 
carry  out  your  noble  idea. 

"The  star  arose  in  the  east;  it  traveled  steadily 
toward  the  west,  sometimes  dimmed  and  sometimes 
effulgent,  till  it  made  a  circuit  of  the  world,  and 
now  it  is  again  rising  on  the  very  horizon  of  the  east, 
the  borders  of  the  Tasifu,  a  thousand-fold  more 
effulgent  than  it  ever  was  before.  Hail,  Columbia, 
motherland  of  liberty!  It  has  been  given  to  thee, 
who  never  dipped  hand  ia  neighbor's  blood,  who 
never  found  out  that  shortest  way  of  becoming  rich 
by  robbing  one's  neighbors  —  it  has  been  given  to 
thee  to  march  on  in  the  vanguard  of  civilization  with 
the  flag  of  harmony." 

ORTHODOX   CHRISTIANITY. 

The  chairman  in  introducing  Joseph  Cook  re- 
ferred to  the  undoubted  quality  of  his  orthodoxy; 
and  on  this  ground  his  statement  of  ' '  the  certainties 
of  religion ' '  may  be  introduced  into  this  comparison. 
His  address  has  been  very  generally  remarked  upon, 
and  often  severely  criticised;  but  the  fact  remains 
to  the  credit  of  Joseph  Cook  that,  in  its  main 
statements,  it  stands  out  as  a  frank  and  manly  dec- 


RT.-REV.  REUCHI  SHIBATA, 
High  Priest  of  Zhikko  Sect  of  Shintoism,  Japan. 


A   RELIGIOUS   SYMrOSIUM.  65 

laration  of  what  Protestant  orthodoxy  is  committed 
to  by  creed  and  sermon;  unnecessarily  dramatic,  it 
may  be,  and  too  much  in  the  nature  of  cliallenge  to 
suit  the  spirit  of  the  occasion,  but  honest  and  clear: 

"It  is  no  more  wonderful  that  we  should  live 
again  than  that  we  should  live  at  all.  It  is  less 
wonderful  that  we  should  continue  to  live  than  that 
we  have  begun  to  live;  and  even  the  most  deter- 
mined and  superficial  skeptic  knows  that  w^e  have 
begun.  On  the  faces  of  this  polyglot  international 
audience  I  seem  to  see  written,  as  I  once  saw 
chiseled  on  the  marble  above  the  tomb  of  the  great 
Emperor  Akbar  in  the  land  of  the  Ganges,  the 
hundred  names  of  God. 

"Let  us  beware  how  we  lightly  assert  that  we  are 
glad  that  those  names  are  one.  How  many  of  us 
are  ready  for  immediate,  total,  irreversible  self-sur- 
render to  God  as  both  Saviour  and  Lord?  Only  such 
of  us  as  are  thus  ready  can  call  ourselves  in  any 
deep  sense  religious.  I  care  not  what  name  you 
give  to  God  if  you  mean  by  him  a  spirit  omnipres- 
ent, eternal,  omnipotent,  infinite  in  holiness  and 
every  other  operation.  Who  is  ready  for  coopera- 
tion with  such  a  God  in  life  and  death  and  beyond 
death?  Only  he  who  is  thus  ready  is  religious. 
William  Shakespeare  is  supposed  to  have  known 
something  of  human  nature,  and  certainly  was  not 
a  theological  partisan.  Now  Shakespeare,  you  will 
remember,  in  '  The  Tempest, '  tells  you  of  two  char- 
acters who  conceived  for  each  other  supreme  affec- 
tion as  soon  as  they  met.  '  At  the  first  glance  they 
have  changed  eyes,'  he   says.     The  truly  religious 


bb  WOKLD  S   EELIGIOUS   CONGRESSES. 

man  is  one  who  has  'changed  eyes'  with  God  under 
some  one  or  another  of  his  hundred  names.  It  follows 
from  this  definition  of  religion,  and  as  a  certainty 
dependent  on  the  unalterable  nature  of  things,  that 
only  he  wlu)  has  changed  eyes  with  God  can  look  into 
his  face  in  xoeace.  A  religion  of  delight  in  God,  not 
merely  as  Saviour,  but  as  Lord  also,  is  scientifically 
known  to  be  a  necessity  to  the  peace  of  the  soul, 
whether  we  call  God  by  this  name  or  the  other, 
whether  we  speak  of  him  in  the  dialect  of  this  or 
that  of  the  four  continents,  or  this  or  that  of  the 
10,000  isles  of  the  sea. 

"What  is  the  distinction  between  morality  and 
religion,  and  how  can  the  latter  be  shown  by  the 
scientific  method  to  be  a  necessity  to  the  peace  of 
the  soul  ?  And  noAv,  though  I  do  not  understand 
morality  and  the  philanthropies,  I  purpose  to  speak 
of  the  strategic  certainties  of  religion  from  the 
point  of  view  of  comparative  religion.  First,  from 
the  very  center  of  the  human  heart  and  in  the  pres- 
ence of  all  the  hundred  names  of  God,  conscience 
demands  that  what  ought  to  be,  be  chosen  by  the 
will,  and  it  demands  this  universally.  Conscience  is 
that  faculty  within  us  which  tastes  intentions.  A 
man  does  unquestionably  know  whether  he  means 
to  be  mean,  and  he  inevitably  feels  mean  when  he 
knows  that  he  means  to  be  mean.  If  we  say  to  that 
still,  small  voice  we  call  conscience,  that  proclaims 
'thou  oughtest,'  'I  will  not,'  there  is  lack  of 
peace  in  us,  and  until  only  we  say  'I  will,'  and  do 
like  to  say  it,  there  is  no  harmony  within  our  souls. 
The  delight  in  saying  '  I  will '   to  the  still,  small 


A  RELIGIOUS   SYMPOSIUM.  67 

voice  'thou  oughtest'  is  religion.  Merely  calcu- 
lating, selfish  obedience  to  that  still,  small  voice 
saves  no  man. 

"This  is  the  first  commandment  of  absolute  sci- 
ence: '  Thou  shalt  love  the  Lord  thy  God  with  all 
thy  mind,  and  might,  and  heart,  and  strength.' 
When  Shakespeare's  two  characters  met,  curiosity 
as  to  each  other's  qualities  did  not  constitute  the 
changing  of  eyes.  That  mighty  capacity  which 
exists  in  human  nature  to  give  forth  a  supreme 
affection  was  not  the  changing  of  eyes.  Let  us  not 
mistake  a  capacity  of  religion  which  every  man  has 
for  religion  itself.  We  must  not  only  have  a  capac- 
ity to  love  God,  we  must  have  adoration  of  God; 
and  half  the  loose,  limp,  unscientific  liberalisms  of 
the  world  mistake  mere  admiration  for  adoration. 
It  is  narrowness  to  refuse  mental  hospitality  for 
any  single  truth;  but  we,  assembled  in  the  name  of 
science,  in  the  name  of  every  grave  purpose,  have 
an  international  breadth,  and  what  we  purpose  to 
promote  is  such  a  self-surrender  to  God  as  shall 
amount  to  delight  in  all  known  duty  and  make  us 
affectionately  and  irreversibly  choose  God  under 
some  one  of  his  names  —  I  care  not  what  the  name 
is  if  you  mean  by  it  all  the  Bible  means  by  the  word 
'  God'  —  choose  him  not  as  Saviour  only  but  as  God 
also,  not  as  Lord  only  but  as  Saviour  also. 

"But  choice  in  relation  to  persons  means  love. 
What  we  choose  we  love;  but  conscience  reveals  a 
holy  person,  the  author  of  the  moral  law,  and  con- 
science demands  that  this  law  should  not  only  be 
obeyed  but  loved,  and  that  the  holy  person  should 


68  world's  religious  congresses. 

be  not  only  obeyed  but  loved.  This  is  the  unalter- 
able demand  of  an  imalterable  portion  of  our  nature. 
As  personalities,  therefore,  must  keep  company 
with  this  part  of  our  nature  and  with  its  demands 
while  we  exist  in  this  world  and  in  the  next,  the 
love  of  God  by  man  is  inflexibly  required  by  the 
very  nature  of  things.  Conscience  draws  an  unal- 
terable distinction  between  loyalty  and  disloyalty 
to  the  ineffable,  holy  person  whom  the  moral  law 
reveals,  and  between  the  obedience  of  slavishness 
and  that  of  delight.  Only  the  latter  is  obedience  to 
conscience. 

"Religion  is  the  obedience  of  affectionate  glad- 
ness. Morality  is  the  obedience  of  selfish  slavish- 
ness. Only  religion,  therefore,  and  not  mere 
morality,  can  harmonize  the  soul  with  the  nature  of 
things.  A  delight  in  obedience  is  not  only  a  part 
of  religion,  but  is  necessary  to  peace  in  God's  pres- 
ence. A  religion  consisting  in  the  obedience  of 
gladness  is,  therefore,  scientifically  known  to  be 
according  to  the  nature  of  things.  It  will  not  be 
to-morrow^  or  the  day  after  that  these  propositions 
will  cease  to  be  scientifically  certain.  Out  of  them 
multitudinous  inferences  flow  as  Niagaras  from  the 
brink  of  God's  palm.  Demosthenes  once  made  the 
remark  that  every  address  should  begin  with  an 
incontrovertible  proposition.  Now  it  is  a  certainty, 
and  my  topic  makes  my  key-note  a  word  of  cer- 
tainty, that  a  little  while  ago  we  were  not  in  the 
world  and  a  little  while  hence  we  shall  be  here  no 
longer.  Lincoln,  Garfield,  Seward,  Grant,  Beecher, 
Gough,    Emerson,     Longfellow,     Tennyson,    Lord 


A   RELIGIOUS   SYMPOSIUM.  69 

Beaconsfield,  George  Eliot,  Caiiyle  —  I  know  not 
how  many  Mahomets  —  are  gone,  and  we  are  going. 
These  are  certainties  that  will  endure  in  the  four 
continents  and  on  the  isles  of  the  sea  — 

Till  the  heavens  are  old,  and  the  stars  are  cold, 
And  the  leaves  of  the  judgment  book  unfold. 

"  The  world  expects  to  hear  from  us  this  afternoon 
no  drivel,  but  something  fit  to  be  professed  face  to 
face  with  the  crackling  artillery  of  the  science  of 
our  time.  I  know  I  am  going  hence,  and  I  know  I 
wish  to  go  in  peace.  Now,  I  hold  that  it  is  a  cer- 
tainty, and  a  certainty  founded  on  truth  absolutely 
self-evident,  that  there  are  three  things  from  which 
I  can  never  escape  —  my  conscience,  my  God,  and 
my  record  of  sin  in  an  irreversible  past.  How  am  I 
to  be  harmonized  with  that  unescapable  environ- 
ment? Here  is  Lady  Macbeth.  See  how  she  rubs 
her  hands  — 

Out,  damned  spot!    Will  these  hands  ne'er  be  clean? 

All  the  perfumes  of  Arabia  could  not  sweeten  this  little  hand. 

And  her  husband,  in  a  similar  mood,  says: 

This  red  right  hand,  it  would  the  multitudinous  seas  incarnadine, 
making  the  green  one  red. 

"What  religion  can  wash  Lady  Macbeth' s  red 
right  hand  ?  That  is  a  question  I  propose  to  the 
four  continents  and  all  the  isles  of  the  sea. 
Unless  you  can  answer  that,  you  have  not  come 
here  with  a  serious  purpose  to  a  parliament  of 
religions. 

"  I  speak  now  to  that  branch  of  skeptics  which  is 
not  represented  here,  and  I  ask  who  can  wash  Lady 


70 

Macbeth' s  red  right  hand,  and  their  silence  or  their 
responses  are  as  inefficient  as  a  fishing-rod  would  be 
to  span  this  vast  lake  or  the  Atlantic. 

'*  I  turn  to  Mohammedanism.  Can  you  wash  our 
red  right  hands  ^  I  turn  to  Confucianism  and 
Buddhism.  Can  you  wash  our  red  right  hands? 
So  help  me  God,  I  mean  to  ask  a  question  this  after- 
noon that  shall  go  in  some  hearts  across  the  seas 
and  to  the  antipodes,  and  I  ask  it  in  the  name  of 
what  I  hold  to  be  absolutely  self-evident  truth, 
that  unless  a  man  is  washed  from  the  old  sin  and  the 
guilt  of  mankind  he  can  not  be  at  peace  in  the  pres- 
ence of  infinite  holiness. 

*'01d  and  blind  Michael  Angelo  in  the  Vatican 
used  to  go  to  the  torso,  so  called  —  a  fragment  of  the 
art  of  antiquity  —  and  he  would  feel  along  the  mar- 
velous lines  chiseled  in  bygone  ages,  and  tell  his 
pupils  that  thus  and  thus  the  study  should  be  com- 
pleted. I  turn  to  every  faith  on  earth  except  Chris- 
tianity and  I  find  every  such  faith  a  torso.  I  beg  par- 
don. The  occasion  is  too  grave  for  mere  courtesy  and 
nothing  else.  Some  of  the  faiths  of  the  world  are 
marvelous  as  far  as  they  go,  but  if  they  were  com- 
pleted along  the  lines  of  the  certainties  of  the  re- 
ligions themselves  they  would  go  up  and  up  and 
up  to  an  assertion  of  the  necessity  of  the  new  purpose 
to  deliver  the  soul  from  a  life  of  sin,  and  of  atone- 
ment made  of  God's  grace,  to  deliver  the  soul  from 
guilt. 

"  Take  the  ideas  which  have  produced  the  torsos 
of  the  earthly  faiths  and  you  will  have  a  universal 
religion,  under  some  of  the  names  of  God,  and  it 


A   RELIGIOUS   SYMPOSIUM.  •      71 

will  be  a  liarmonious  outline  with  Christianity. 
There  is  no  peace  anywhere  in  the  universe  for  a 
soul  with  bad  intentions,  ancV  there  ought  not  to  be. 
Ours  is  a  transitional  age,  and  we  are  told  we 
are  all  sons  of  God;  and  so  we  are,  in  a  natural 
sense,  but  not  in  a  moral  sense.  We  are  all  capa- 
ble of  changing  eyes  with  God,  and  until  we  do 
change  eyes  with  him  it  is  impossible  for  us  to  face 
him  in  peace.  No  transition  in  life  or  death  or 
beyond  death  will  ever  deliver  us  from  the  necessity 
of  good  intentions  to  the  peace  of  the  soul  with  its 
environments,  nor  from  exposure  to  penalty  for 
deliberately  bad  intentions.  I  hold  that  we  not 
only  can  not  escape  from  conscience  and  God  and 
our  records  of  sins,  but  that  it  is  a  certainty,  and  a 
strategic  certainty,  that  except  Christianity  there 
is  no  religion  under  heaven  or  among  men  that 
effectively  provides  for  the  peace  of  the  soul  by  its 
harmonization  with  this  environment." 

Here  also  should  be  cited  the  equally  plain  and 
emphatic  declaration  of  Prof.  W.  C.  Wilkinson  of 
Chicago  University,  who  concluded  an  extended 
discussion  of  the  ' '  Attitude  of  Christianity  tow^ard 
Other  Eeligions"  as  follows: 

"It  is  much  if  a  religion,  such  as  the  Bible  thus 
teaches  Christianity  to  be,  leaves  us  any  chance  at 
all  for  entertaining  hope  concerning  those  remaining 
to  the  last  involved  in  the  prevalence  of  false 
religion  surrounding  them.  But  chance  there 
seems  indeed  to  be  of  hope  justified  by  Christianity, 
for  some  among  these  unfortunate  men.     Peter,  the 


72  .         world's  religious  congresses. 

straightened  Peter,  the  one  apostle  perhaps  most 
inclined  to  be  unalterably  Jewish,  he  it  was  who, 
having  been  hitherto  specially  instructed,  said: 

'' '  Of  a  truth  I  perceive  that  God  is  no  respecter  of 
persons,  but  in  every  nation  he  that  feareth  him 
and  worketh  righteousness  is  acceptable  to  him.' 

' '  To  fear  God  first,  and  then  also  to  work  right- 
eousness, these  are  the  traits  characterizing  ever  and 
everywhere  the  man  acceptable  to  God.  But  evi- 
dently to  fear  God  is  not,  in  the  idea  of  Christianity, 
to  worship  another  than  he.  It  will  accordingly 
be  in  degree  as  a  man  escapes  the  ethnic  religion 
dominant  about  him,  and  rises  —  not  by  means  of 
it,  but  in  spite  of  it  —  into  the  transcending  element 
of  the  true  divine  worship,  that  the  man  will  be 
acceptable  to  God. 

"  Of  any  ethnic  religion,  therefore,  can  it  be  said 
that  it  is  a  true  religion,  only  not  perfect  ?  Chris- 
tianity says  no.  Christianity  speaks  words  of  unde- 
fined, unlimited  hope  concerning  those,  some  of 
those,  who  shall  never  have  heard  of  Christ.  These 
words  Christians,  of  course,  will  hold  and  cherish 
according  to  their  inestimable  value.  But  let  us 
not  mistake  them  as  intended  to  bear  any  relation 
whatever  to  the  erring  religions  of  mankind.  Those 
religions  the  Bible  nowhere  represents  as  pathetic 
and  partly  successful  gropings  after  God.  They  are 
one  and  all  represented  as  groping  downward,  not 
groping  upward.  According  to  Christianity  they 
hinder,  they  do  not  help.  Their  adherents'  hold 
on  them  is  like  the  blind  grasping  of  drowning  men 
on  roots  or  rocks  that  only  tend  to  keep  them  to  the 


A   RELIGIOUS   SYMPOSIUM.  78 

bottom  of  the  river.  The  truth  that  is  in  the  false 
religion  may  help,  but  it  will  be  the  truth,  not  the 
false  religion. 

"According  to  Christianity  the  false  religion  exerts 
all  its  force  to  choke  and  to  kill  the  truth  that  is 
in  it.  Hence  the  historic  degeneration  represented 
in  the  first  chapter  of  Romans  as  effecting  false 
religions  in  general.^  If  they  were  upward  reachings 
they  would  grow  better  and  better.  If,  as  Paul 
teaches,  they  in  fact  grow  worse  and  worse,  it  must 
be  because  they  are  downward  reachings.  The 
indestructible  instinct  to  worship,  that  is  in  itself  a 
saving  j)ower.  Carefully  guarded,  carefully  culti- 
vated, it  may  even  save.  But  the  worshiping 
instinct,  misused  or  disused,  that  is,  depraved  to 
idolatry  or  extinguished  in  atheism —  'held  down,' 
as  Paul  graphically  expresses  it  —  is  in  swift  process 
of  becoming  an  irresistible  destroying  power.  The 
light  that  is  in  the  soul  turns  swiftly  into  darkness. 
The  instinct  to  worship  lifts  Godward.  The  issue 
of  that  instinct,  its  abuse  in  idolatry,  its  disuse  in 
atheism,  is  evil,  only  evil,  and  that  continually. 

"The  attitude,  therefore,  of  Christianity  toward 
religions  other  than  itself  is  an  attitude  of  universal, 
absolute,  eternal,  unappeasable  hostility,  while 
toward  all  men,  everywhere,  the  adherents  of  false 
religion  by  no  means  excepted,  its  attitude  is  an 
attitude  of  grace,  mercy,  peace,  for  whosoever  will. 
How  many  may  be  found  that  will  is  a  problem 
which  Christianity  leaves  unsolved.  Most  welcome 
hints  and  suggestions,  however,  it  affords,  encour- 
aging Christians  joyfully  and  gratefully  to  entertain 


74 

on  behalf  of  the  erring  that  relieved  and  sym- 
pathetic sentiment  which  the  poet  has  taught  us 
to  call  '  the  larger  hope.'  " 

More  generous  and  inviting  is  the  "Message  of 
Christianity  to  Other  Religions,"  as  voiced  by  the 
Rev.  James  S.  Dennis,  D.  D.,  secretary  of  the  Pres- 
byterian Board  of  Missions.  I^  gives  the  message 
in  a  series  of  "code  words,"  as  he  calls  them: 

"The  initial  word  which  we  place  in  this  signal 
code  of  Christianity  is  fatherhood.  This  may  have 
a  strange  sound  to  some  ears,  but  to  the  Christian 
it  is  full  of  sweetness  and  dignity.  It  simply  means 
that  the  creative  act  of  God,  so  far  as  our  human 
family  is  concerned,  was  done  in  the  spirit  of  fatherly 
love  and  goodness.  He  created  us  in  his  likeness, 
and  to  express  this  idea  of  spiritual  resemblance  and 
tender  relationship  the  symbolical  term  of  father- 
hood is  used.  When  Christ  taught  us  to  pray  '  Our 
Father '  he  gave  us  a  lesson  which  transcends  human 
philosophy,  and  has  in  it  so  much  of  the  height  and 
depth  of  divine  feeling  that  human  reason  has 
hardly  dared  to  receive,  much  less  to  originate,  the 
conception. 

"A  second  word  which  is  representative  in  the 
Christian  message  is  brotherhood.  This  exists  in  two 
senses  —  there  is  the  universal  brotherhood  of  man 
to  man,  as  children  of  one  father,  in  whose  likeness 
the  whole  family  is  created,  and  the  spiritual  broth- 
erhood of  union  in  Christ.  Here  again  is  the  sug- 
gestion of  love  as  the  rule  and  sign  of  human  as  well 
as  Christian  fellowship.    The  world  has  drifted  far 


A   RELIGIOUS  SYMPOSIUM.  75 

away  from  this  ideal  of  brotherhood;  it  has  been 
repudiated  in  some  quarters  even  in  the  name  of 
religion,  and  it  seems  clear  that  it  will  never  be 
fully  recognized  and  exemplified  except  as  the 
Spirit  of  Christ  assumes  its  sway  over  the  hearts  of 
men. 

"  The  next  code  word  of  Christianity  is  redemp- 
tion. We  use  it  here  in  the  sense  of  a  purpose  on 
God's  part  to  deliver  man  from  sin,  and  to  make  a 
universal  provision  for  that  end,  which,  if  rightly 
used,  insures  the  result.  I  need  not  remind  you 
that  this  purpose  is  conceived  in  love.  God,  as 
Redeemer,  has  taken  a  gracious  attitude  toward  man 
from  the  beginning  of  history,  and  he  is  '  not  far 
from  every  one '  in  the  immanence  and  omnipresence 
of  his  love.  Redemption  is  a  world-embracing  term. 
It  is  not  limited  to  any  age  or  class.  Its  j^otentiality 
is  world-wide;  its  efficiency  is  unrestrained  except 
as  man  limits  it;  its  application  is  determined  by 
the  sovereign  wisdom  of  God,  its  Author,  who  deals 
with  each  individual  as  a  possible  candidate  for 
redemption,  and  decides  his  destiny  in  accordance 
with  his  spiritual  attitude  toward  Christ. 

"Where  Christ  is  unknown  God  still  exercises 
his  sovereignty,  although  he  has  been  pleased  to 
maintain  a  significant  reserve  as  to  the  possibility, 
extent,  and  sjjiritual  tests  of  redemption  where  trust 
is  based  on  God's  mercy  in  general  rather  than  upon 
his  mercy  as  specially  revealed  in  Christ.  We  know 
from  his  word  that  Christ' s  sacrifice  is  infinite.  God 
can  apply  its  saving  benefits  to  one  who  intelligently 
accepts  it  in  faith,  or  to  an  infant  who  receives  its 


76  world's  religious  congresses. 

benefits  as  a  sovereign  gift,  or  to  one  who,  not  hav- 
ing known  of  Christ,  so  casts  himself  upon  God's 
mercy  that  divine  wisdom  sees  good  reason  to  exer- 
cise the  prerogative  of  compassion  and  apply  to  the 
soul  the  saving  jDower  of  the  great  sacrifice. 

' '  Another  cardinal  idea  in  the  Christian  system 
is  incarnation  —  God  clothing  himself  in  human 
form  and  coming  into  living  touch  with  mankind. 
This  he  did  in  the  person  of  Jesus  of  Nazareth.  It 
is  a  mighty  mystery,  and  Christianity  would  never 
dare  assert  it  except  as  God  has  taught  its  truth. 
Granted  the  purpose  of  God  to  reveal  himself  in 
visible  form  to  man,  and  he  must  be  free  to  choose 
his  own  method.  He  did  not  consult  human  reason. 
He  did  not  seek  the  permission  of  ordinary  laws. 
He  came  in  his  spiritual  chariot,  in  the  glory  of  the 
supernatural,  but  he  entered  the  realm  of  human 
life  through  the  humble  gateway  of  nature.  He 
came  not  only  to  reveal  God,  but  to  bring  him  into 
contact  with  human  life.  He  came  to  assume  per- 
manent relations  to  the  race.  His  brief  life  among 
us  on  earth  was  for  a  purpose,  and  when  that 
was  accomplished,  still  retaining  his  humanity,  he 
ascended  to  assume  his  kingly  dominions  in  the 
heavens. 

"We  are  brought  now  to  another  fundamental 
truth  in  Christian  teaching  —  the  mysterious  doc- 
trine of  atonement.  Sin  is  a  fact  which  is  indis- 
putable. It  is  universally  recognized  and  acknowl- 
edged. It  is  its  own  evidence.  It  is,  moreover,  a 
barrier  between  man  and  his  God.  The  divine  holi- 
ness and  sin,  with  its  loathsomeness,  its  rebellion, 


A   RELIGIOUS    SYMPOSIUM.  77 

its  horrid  degradation,  and  its  hopeless  ruin,  can  not 
coalesce  in  any  system  of  moral  government.  God 
can  not  tolerate  sin,  or  temporize  with  it,  or  make  a 
place  for  it  in  his  presence.  He  can  not  parley  with 
it;  he  must  punish  it.  He  can  not  treat  with  it;  he 
must  try  it  at  the  bar.  He  can  not  overlook  it;  he 
must  overcome  it.  He  can  not  give  it  a  moral  status; 
he  must  visit  it  wdth  the  condemnation  it  deserves. 

■"  Atonement  is  God's  marvelous  method  of  vindi- 
cating, once  for  all,  before  the  universe,  his  eternal 
attitude  toward  sin,  by  the  voluntary  self  assump- 
tion, in  the  spirit  of  sacrifice,  of  its  penalty.  This 
he  does  in  the  person  of  Jesus  Christ,  who  came  as 
God  incarnate  upon  this  sublime  mission.  The  facts 
of  Christ's  birth,  life,  death,  and  resurrection  take 
their  place  in  the  realm  of  veritable  history,  and 
the  moral  value  and  propitiatory  efficacy  of  his  per- 
fect obedience  and  sacrificial  death  in  a  representa- 
tive capacity  become  a  mysterious  element  of  limit- 
less worth  in  the  process  of  readjusting  the  relation 
of  the  sinner  to  his  God. 

"Christ  is  recognized  by  God  as  a  substitute. 
The  merit  of  his  obedience  and  the  exalted  dignity 
of  liis  sacrifice  are  both  available  to  faith .  The  sin- 
ner, humble,  penitent,  and  conscious  of  un worthi- 
ness, accepts  Christ  as  his  redeemer,  his  intercessor, 
his  saviour,  and  simply  believes  in  him,  trusting  in 
his  assurances  and  promises,  based  as  they  are  upon 
his  atoning  intervention,  and  receives  from  God,  as 
the  gift  of  sovereign  love,  all  the  benefits  of  Christ's 
mediatorial  work.  This  is  God's  way  of  reaching 
the  goal  of  pardon  and  reconciliation.    It  is  his  way 


78  world's  religious  congresses. 

of  being  liimself  just  and  yet  accomplishing  the 
justification  of  the  sinner.  Here  again  we  have  the 
mystery  of  love  in  its  most  intense  form  and  the 
mystery  of  wisdom  in  its  most  august  exemplifica- 
tion. 

"This  is  the  heart  of  the  gospel.  It  throbs  with 
mysterious  love.  It  i3ulsates  with  ineffable  throes 
of  divine  feeling;  it  bears  a  vital  relation  to  the 
whole  scheme  of  government;  it  is  in  its  hidden 
activities  beyond  the  scrutiny  of  human  reason;  but 
it  sends  the  life-blood  coursing  through  history  and 
it  gives  to  Christianity  its  superb  vitality  and  its 
undying  vigor.  It  is  because  Christianity  eliminates 
sin  from  the  problem  that  its  solution  is  complete 
and  final. 

"  We  pass  now  to  another  word  which  is  of  vital 
importance  —  it  is  character.  God' s  ow^n  attitude  to 
the  sinner  being  settled,  and  the  problem  of  moral 
government  solved,  the  next  matter  which  presents 
itself  is  the  personality  of  the  individual  man.  It 
must  be  x)urified,  transformed  into  the  spiritual  like- 
ness  of  Christ,  trained  for  immortality.  It  must  be 
brought  into  harmony  with  the  ethical  standards  of 
Christ.  This  Christianity  insists  upon,  and  for  the 
accomplishment  of  this  end  it  is  gifted  with  an  influ- 
ence and  impulse,  a  potency  and  winsomeness,  an 
inspiration  and  helpfulness,  which  is  full  of  spirit- 
ual mastery  over  the  soul.  Christianity  uplifts, 
transforms,  and  eventually  transfigures  the  i^ersonal 
character.  It  is  a  transcendent  school  of  incompar- 
able ethics.  It  honors  the  rugged  training  of  disci- 
pline; it  uses  it  freely  but  tenderly.    It  accomplishes 


A   KELIGIOUS   SYMPOSIUM.  79 

its  purpose  by  exacting  obedience,  by  teaching  sub- 
mission, by  helping  to  self-control,  by  insisting 
upon  practical  righteousness  as  a  rule  of  life,  and  by 
introducing  the  golden  rule  as  the  law  of  contact 
and  duty  between  man  and  man. 

"In  vital  connection  with  character  is  a  word  of 
magnetic  impulse  and  unique  glory  which  gives  to 
Christianity  a  sublime  practical  power  in  history. 
It  is  service.  There  is  a  forceful  meaning  in  the 
double  influence  of  Christianity  over  the  inner  life 
and  the  outward  ndnistry  of  its  followers.  Christ, 
its  founder,  glorified  service  and  lifted  it  in  his  own 
experience  to  the  dignity  of  sacrifice.  In  the  light 
of  Christ's  example,  service  becomes  an  honor,  a 
privilege,  and  a  moral  triumph ;  it  is  consummated 
and  crowned  in  sacrifice. 

"Christianity,  receiving  its  lesson  from  Christ, 
subsidizes  character  in  the  interest  of  service.  It 
lays  its  noblest  fruitage  of  personal  gifts  and  spirit- 
ual culture  upon  the  altar  of  philanthropic  sacrifice. 
It  is  unworthy  of  its  name  if  it  does  not  reproduce 
this  spirit  of  its  master;  only  by  giving  itself  to 
benevolent  ministry,  as  Christ  gave  himself  for  the 
world,  can  it  vindicate  its  origin.  -  Christianity 
recognizes  no  worship  which  is  altogether  divorced 
from  work  for  the  weal  of  others;  it  indorses  no 
religious  professions  which  are  unmindful  of  the 
obligations  of  service;  it  allows  itself  to  be  tested 
not  simply  by  the  purity  of  its  motives,  but  by  the 
measure  of  its  sacrifices.  The  crown  and  goal  of  its 
followers  is,  '  Well  done,  good  and  faithful  servant.' 

* '  One  other  word  completes  the  code.     It  is  fellow- 


ship.  It  is  a  word  which  breathes  the  sweetest  hope 
and  sounds  the  highest  destiny  of  the  Christian.  It 
gives  the  grandest  possible  meaning  to  eternity,  for 
it  suggests  that  it  is  to  be  passed  with  God.  It 
illumines  and  transhgures  the  present,  for  it  brings 
God  into  it,  and  places  him  in  living  touch  with  our 
lives,  and  makes  him  a  helper  in  our  moral  struggles, 
our  spiritual  aspirations,  and  our  heroic  though 
imperfect  efforts  to  live  the  life  of  duty.  It  is  solace 
in  trouble,  consolation  in  sorrow,  strength  in  weak- 
ness, courage  in  trial,  help  in  weariness,  and  cheer 
in  loneliness.  It  becomes  an  unfailing  inspiration 
when  human  nature,  left  to  its  own  resources,  would 
lie  down  in  despair  and  die.  Fellowship  with  God 
implies  and  secures  fellowship  with  each  other  in  a 
mystical  spiritual  union  of  Christ  with  his  people, 
and  his  people  with  each  other.  An  invisible  society 
of  regenerate  souls,  which  we  call  the  kingdom  of 
God  among  men,  is  the  result.  This  has  its  visible 
product  in  the  organized  society  of  the  Christian 
church,  which  is  the  chosen  and  honored  instrument 
of  God  for  the  conservation  and  propagation  of 
Christianity  among  men. 

"This,  then,  is  the  message  which  Christianity 
signals  to  other  religions  as  it  greets  them  to-day: 
Fatherhood,  brotherhood,  redemption,  incarnation, 
atonement,  character,  service,  fellowship." 

If  we  pause  here  to  compare,  we  lind  the  Hindu 
looking  up  to  the  Almighty  and  the  All-merciful  One, 
who  was  incarnate  on  earth,  as  Krishna,  and  taught 
the  love  of  God  for  its  own  sake;  believing  that  the 


A   RELIGIOUS   SYMPOSIUM.  81 

pure  in  heart  see  him,  and  that  purity  is  attained  by 
crucifying  all  selfish  desire,  and  in  the  constant  strug- 
gle to  become  perfect,  even  as  the  Father  in  heaven 
is  perfect.  In  what  that  perfection  consists  is  not 
definitely  set  forth;  nor  does  the  means  of  reaching 
it  appear  clear,  except  as  a  continual  struggle, 
through  no  matter  how  many  conditions  of  life,  to 
rise  above  selfishness.  One  might  suggest  here,  that 
however  defective  this  view  may  be  to  the  intellect 
aspiring  to  a  knowledge  of  the  origins  and  issues  of 
life  and  death,  yet,  as  a  practical  religion,  it  teaches 
the  acknowledgment  of  the  divine  in  shunning  the 
evils  of  self-love  as  sins  against  liim.  And  here  one 
is  reminded  of  the  voice  of  Jehovah,  by  the  prophet, 
"  If  a  man  turn  from  the  evil  he  hath  done  and  doeth 
righteousness  he  shall  live,"  and  of  the  word  in  the 
gospel,  that  "whosoever  will  do  his  will  shall 
know,"  and  "he  that  hath  my  commandments  and 
keepeth  them,  he  it  is  that  loveth  me,"  and  "he 
that  is  not  against  us  is  for  us." 

Orthodox  Christianity,  on  the  other  hand,  sees 
the  great  fact  of  sin  as  a  bar  to  the  love  of  God,  and 
finds  in  the  gospel  no  hope  for  any  until  the  old  sin 
and  the  guilt  of  mankind  is  blotted  out  from  the 
mind  of  God  by  a  substitutional  sacrifice,  accejDted  by 
faith  on  the  part  of  the  sinner.  It  sees  in  Chris- 
tianity only  an  attitude  of  absolute,  eternal,  and 
unappeasable  hostility  toward  other  religions,  while 
it  holds  out  to  all  men  grace  and  mercy,  and  pleads 
for  the  acceptance  of  redemption  and  atonement, 
through  faith  in  the  sacrifice  of  Christ  as  acceptable 
with  God,  with  inclination  toward  a  "larger  hope." 


82 


LIBERAL   CHRISTIANITY. 

Of  course  there  is  the  broader  view,  with  which  all 
are  familiar  in  this  day,  as  voiced  by  Dr.  Lyman 
Abbott,  who  said,  ' '  Religion  is  essential  to  human- 
ity," the  '' religion"  that  is  "the  mother  of  all  re- 
ligions, not  the  child,"  which  he  defined  as  the 
power  to  apprehend  the  infinite  and  the  eternal. 

Tracing  some  of  the  ways  in  which  the  children  of 
God  are  necessitated  to  seek  after  him.  Doctor  Abbott 
€on  eludes: 

' '  Thus  we  get  out  of  religion  religions  —  religions 
that  vary  with  one  another,  according  as  curiosity, 
or  fear,  or  hope,  or  the  ethical  element,  or  the  per- 
sonal reverence  predominates.  Religious  curiosity 
wants  to  know  about  the  infinite  and  eternal,  and  it 
gives  us  creeds  and  theologies;  the  religion  of  fear 
gives  us  the  sacrificial  system,  with  its  atonements 
and  propitiations;  the  religion  of  hope  expects  some 
reward  or  recompense  from  the  great  Infinite,  and 
exj^resses  itself  in  services  and  gifts,  with  the  expec- 
tation of  rewards  liere  or  in  some  Elysium  hereafter. 
Then  there  is  the  religion  which,  although  it  can 
never  learn  the  nature  of  the  law-giver,  still  goes  on 
trying  to  understand  the  nature  of  his  laws;  and, 
finally,  the  religion  which  more  or  less  clearly  sees 
behind  all  this  that  there  is  One  who  is  the  ideal  of 
humanity,  the  infinite  and  eternal  Ruler  of  human- 
ity, and  therefore  reveres  and  worships,  and  last  of 
all  learns  to  love. 

' '  If,  in  this  very  brief  summary,  I  have  carried  you 
with  me,  you  will  see  that  the  object  of  man's 
search  is  not  merely  religion;  he  is  seeking  to  know 


A   RELIGIOUS   SYMPOSIUM.  83 

the  infinite  and  the  eternal,  not  merely  the  priests 
and  the  hierarchies,  not  merely  the  men  and  women, 
with  their  services,  and  their  rituals,  and  their 
prayer-books,  but  the  whole  current  and  tendency 
of  human  life  is  a  search  for  the  infinite  and  the 
divine.  All  science,  all  art,  all  sociology,  all  busi- 
ness, all  government,  as  well  as  all  worship,  is  in 
the  last  analysis  an  endeavor  to  comprehend  the 
meaning  of  the  great  words,  honesty,  justice,  truth, 
pity,  mercy,  love.  In  vain  does  the  atheist  or 
the  agnostic  try  to  stop  our  search  to  know  the 
infinite  and  eternal;  in  vain  does  he  tell  us  it  is  a 
useless  quest.  Still  we  press  on,  and  must  press  on. 
The  incentive  is  in  ourselves,  and  nothing  can  blot  it 
out  of  us  and  still  leave  us  men  and  women. 

"God  made  us  out  of  himself  and  God  calls  us 
back  to  himself.  It  w(  uld  be  easier  to  kill  the 
appetite  of  man  and  let  us  feed  by  merely  shoveling 
in  carbon  as  into  a  furnace;  it  would  be  easier  to 
blot  ambition  out  of  man  and  to  consign  him  to  end- 
less and  nerveless  content;  easier  to  blot  love  out  of 
man  and  banish  him  to  live  the  life  of  a  eunuch  in 
the  wilderness  than  to  blot  out  of  the  soul  of  man 
those  desires  and  aspirations  which  knit  him  to  the 
infinite  and  the  eternal,  give  him  love  for  his  fellow- 
man  and  reverence  for  God.  In  vain  does  the 
philosopher  of  the  barnyard  say  to  the  egg,  '  You 
are  made  of  egg;  you  alwa^^s  were  an  egg;  you 
always  will  be  an  egg;  don't  try  to  be  anything  but 
an  egg.'  The  chicken  pecks  and  pecks  until  he 
breaks  the  shell  and  comes  out  to  the  sunlight  of 
the  world. 


84  world's  religious  congresses. 

''We  welcome  here  to-day,  in  this  most  cosmo- 
politan city  of  the  most  cosmopolitan  race  on  the 
globe,  the  representatives  of  all  the  various  forms 
of  religious  life  from  east  to  west  and  north  to 
south.  We  are  glad  to  welcome  them.  We  are 
glad  to  believe  that  they,  as  we,  have  been  seeking 
to  know  something  more  and  better  of  the  divine 
from  which  we  issue,  of  the  divine  to  which  we 
are  returning.  We  are  glad  to  hear  the  message 
they  have  to  bring  to  us.  We  are  glad  to  know  what 
they  have  to  tell  us,  but  what  we  are  gladdest  of  all 
about  is  that  we  can  tell  them  what  we  have  found 
in  our  search,  and  that  we  have  found  the  Christ. 

"  I  do  not  stand  here  as  an  exponent,  the  ajjolo- 
gist,  or  the  defender  of  Christianity.  In  it  there 
have  been  the  blemishes  and  the  marks  of  human 
handiwork.  It  has  been  too  intellectual,  too  much 
a  religion  of  creeds.  It  has  been  too  fearful,  too 
much  a  religion  of  sacrifices.  It  has  been  too  self- 
ishly hopeful;  there  has  been  too  much  a  desire 
of  reward  here  or  hereafter.  It  has  been  too  little 
a  religion  of  unselfish  service  and  unselfish  reverence. 
No!  It  is  not  Christianity  that  we  want  to  tell  our 
brethren  across  the  sea  about;  it  is  the  Christ. 

"What  is  it  that  this  universal  hunger  of  the 
human  race  seeks  ?  Is  it  not  these  things  —  a  better 
understanding  of  our  moral  relations,  one  to  an- 
other, a  better  understanding  of  what  we  are  and 
what  we  mean  to  be,* that  we  may  fashion  ourselves 
according  to  the  idea  of  the  ideal  being  in  our 
nature,  a  better  appreciation  of  the  infinite  one  who 
is  behind  all  phenomena,  material  and  spiritual  ?    Is 


A   RELIGIOUS   SYMPOSIUM.  85 

it  not  more  health  and  added  strength  and  clearer 
light  in  our  upward  tendency  to  our  everlasting 
Father  s  arms  and  home  ?  Are  not  these  the  things 
that  most  we  need  in  the  world  1  We  have  found 
the  Christ,  and  loved  him  and  revered  him  and  ac- 
cepted him,  for  nowhere  else,  in  no  other  prophet, 
have  we  found  the  moral  relations  of  men  better 
represented  than  in  the  golden  rule,  'Do  unto 
others  that  which  you  would  have  others  do  unto 
you.'  We  do  not  think  that  he  furnishes  the  only 
ideal  the  world  has  ever  had.  We  recognize  the 
voice  of  God  in  all  prophets  and  in  all  time.  But 
we  do  think  we  have  found  in  this  Christ,  in  his 
patience,  in  his  courage,  in  his  heroism,  in  his  self- 
sacrifice,  in  his  unbounded  mercy  and  love  an  idea 
that  transcends  all  other  ideals  written  by  the  pen 
of  poet,  painted  by  the  brush  of  artist,  or  graven 
into  the  life  of  human  history. 

"We  do  not  think  that  God  has  spoken  only  in 
Palestine  and  to  the  few  in  that  narrow  province. 
We  do  not  think  he  has  been  vocal  in  Christendom 
and  dumb  everywhere  else.  No  !  We  believe  that 
he  is  a  speaking  God  in  all  times  and  in  all  ages. 
But  we  believe  no  other  revelation  transcends  and 
none  other  equals  that  which  he  has  made  to  man  in 
the  one  transcendental  human  life  that  was  lived 
eighteen  centuries  ago  in  Palestine.  And  we  think 
we  find  in  Christ  one  thing  that  we  have  not  been 
able  to  find  in  any  otlier  of  the  manifestations  of  the 
religious  life  of  the  world.  All  religions  are  the 
result  of  man's  seeking  after  God.  If  what  I  have 
portrayed  to  you  this  morning  so  imperfectly  has 


86  world's  religious  congresses. 

any  truth  in  it  the  whole  human  race  seeks  to  know 
its  eternal  and  divine  Father;  the  message  of  the 
Incarnation  —  that  is  the  glad  tidings  we  have  to 
give  to  Africa,  to  Asia,  to  China,  to  the  isles  of  the  sea. 
' '  The  everlasting  Father  is  also  seeking  the  children 
who  are  seeking  him.  He  is  not  an  unknown,  hid- 
ing himself  behind  a  veil  impenetrable.  He  is  not  a 
being  dwelling  in  the  eternal  silence;  he  is  a  speak- 
ing, revealing,  incarnate  God.  He  is  not  an  abso- 
lute Justice,  sitting  on  the  throne  of  the  universe 
and  bringing  before  him  imperfect,  sinful  man  and 
judging  him  with  the  scales  of  unerring  justice;  he 
is  a  father  coming  into  human  life  and  coming  into 
one  transcendental  human  life,  coming  into  all 
human  life  for  all  time.  Perhaps  we  have  some- 
times misrepresented  our  own  faith  respecting  this 
Christ.  Perhaps,  in  our  metaphysical  definitions, 
we  have  sometimes  been  too  anxious  to  be  accurate 
and  too  little  anxious  to  be  true.  He  himself  has 
said  it.  He  is  a  door.  We  do  not  stand  merely  to 
look  at  the  door  for  the  beauty  of  the  carving  upon 
it.  We  i3ush  the  door  open  and  go  in.  Through 
that  door  God  enters  into  human  life;  through  that 
door  humanity  enters  into  the  divine  life;  man  seek- 
ing after  God,  the  incarnate  God  seeking  after  man; 
the  end  in  that  great  future  after  life's  troubled 
dream  shall  be  o'er,  and  we  shall  awake  satisfied 
because  we  awake  in  his  likeness." 

BUDDHISM. 

Buddhism  rivals  Christianity  in  the  number  and 
characteristic    diiferences  of    its    sects;    but    with 


A  RELIGIOUS   SYMPOSIUM.  87 

better  reason  in  the  intent  of  its  original  teacher, 
according  to  Banriu  Yatsabuchi  of  Japan,  from 
whose  paper  we  quote  the  following: 

^'Buddhism  is  the  doctrine  taught  by  Buddha 
Sakyamuni.  The  word  Buddha  is  Sanscrit,  and  in 
the  Japanese  it  is  Satoru,  which  means  under- 
standing, or  comprehension.  It  has  three  meanings 
— self-comprehension,  to  let  others  comprehend,  and 
perfect  comi^rehension.  When  wisdom  and  human- 
ity are  attained  thoroughly  by  one  he  may  be 
called  Buddha,  which  means  perfect  comi^rehension. 
In  Buddhism  we  ,have  Buddha  as  our  Saviour,  the 
spirit  incarnate  of  x>erfect  self-sacrifice  and  divine 
coAipassion,  and  the  embodiment  of  all  that  is  pure 
and  good.  Although  Buddha  was  not  a  creator  and 
had  no  power  to  destroy  the  law  of  the  universe,  he 
had  the  power  of  knowledge  to  know  the  origin  of 
nature  and  end  of  each  revolving  manifestation  of 
the  universal  phenomena.  He  suppressed  the  crav- 
ing and  passions  of  his  mind  until  he  could  reach 
no  higher  spiritual  and  moral  plane.  As  every 
object  of  the  universe  is  one  part  of  the  truth, 
of  course  it  may  become  Buddha,  according  to  a 
natural  reason.     .     .     . 

"The  complete  doctrines  of  Buddha,  who  spent 
fifty  years  iu  elaborating  them,  were  preached  pre- 
cisely and  carefully,  and  their  meanings  are  so  pro- 
found and  deep  that  I  can  not  explain  at  this  time 
an  infinitesimal  part  of  them.  His  preaching  was 
a  compass  to  point  out  the  direction  to  the  be- 
wildered sjjiritual  world.  He  taught  his  disciples 
just  as  the  doctor  cures  his  patient,  by  giving  sev- 


88  WORLD  S    RELIGIOUS   CONGRESSES. 

eral  medicines  according  to  the  different  cases. 
Twelve  divisions  of  Satras  and  84,000  laws  made  to 
meet  tlie  different  cases  of  Buddha's  patients  in  the 
suffering  world  are  minute  classifications  of  Bud- 
dha's teachings.  Why  are  there  so  many  sects  and 
preachings  in  Buddhism?  Simply  because  of  the 
differences  in  human  character.  His  teaching  may 
be  divided  under  four  heads:  Thinking  about  the 
general  state  of  the  world;  thinking  about  the  indi- 
vidual character  simply;  conquering  the  passions; 
giving  up  the  life  to  the  sublime  first  principle. 

"There  is  no  room  for  censure  because  Buddhism 
has  many  sects  which  were  founded  on  Buddha's 
teachings,  because  Buddha  considered  it  best  to 
preach  according  to  the  spiritual  needs  of  his  hear- 
ers and  leave  to  them  the  choice  of  any  i^articular 
set.  We  are  not  allowed  to  censure  other  sects, 
because  the  teaching  of  each  guides  us  all  to  the 
same  place  at  last.  The  necessity  for  separating  the 
many  sects  arose  from  the  fact  that  the  people  of 
different  countries  were  not  alike  in  dispositions 
and  could  not  accept  the  same  truths  in  the  same 
way  as  others.  One  teaching  of  Buddha  contains 
many  elements  which  are  to  be  distributed  and  sep- 
arated; but  as  the  object  as  taught  by  Buddha  is 
one,  we  teach  the  ignorant  according  to  the  condi- 
tions that  arise  through  our  different  sects." 

The  teachings  of  Buddhism  were  more  particu- 
larly set  forth  in  a  paper  by  H.  R.  H.  Prince  Chan- 
dradatChudhadharn,  on  "  The  Buddhism  of  Siam," 
explaining  that  all  things  in  the  universe  are  made 


A   RELIGIOUS   SYMPOSIUM.  89 

up  from  Dliarma,  defined  as  "the  essence  of  na- 
ture," and  iDresenting  the  three  following  phenom- 
ena, namely:  1st,  the  accomplishment  of  eternal 
evolution;  2d,  sorrow  and  suffering,  according  to 
human  ideas;  and  3d,  a  separate  power  uncontrol- 
lable by  the  desire  of  man,  and  not  belonging  to 
man.     He  continued: 

"Man,  who  is  an  aggregate  of  Dharma,  is,  how- 
ever, unconscious  of  the  fact,  because  his  will 
either  receives  impressions  an5  becomes  modified 
by  mere  visible  things,  or  because  his  spirit  has 
become  identified  with  appearances,  such  as  man, 
animal,  deva,  or  any  other  beings  that  are  also  but 
modified  spirits  and  matter.  Man  becomes,  there- 
fore, conscious  of  separate  existence.  But  all  out- 
ward forms,  man  himself  included,  are  made  to  live 
or  to  last  for  a  short  space  of  time  only.  They  are 
soon  to  be  destroyed  and  recreated  again  and  again 
by  an  eternal  evolution.  He  is  first  body  and  spirit, 
but,  through  ignorance  of  the  fact  that  all  is 
Dharma,  and  of  that  which  is  good  and  evil,  his 
spirit  may  become  impressed  with  evil  temptation. 
Thus,  for  instance,  he  may  desire  certain  things 
with  that  force  peculiar  to  a  tiger,  whose  spirit  is 
modified  by  craving  for  lust  and  anger.  In  such  a 
case  he  will  be  continually  adopting,  directly  or 
indirectly,  in  his  own  life,  the  wills  and  acts  of  that 
tiger,  and  thereby  is  himself  that  animal  in  spirit 
and  soul.  Yet  outwardly  he  appears  to  be.  a  man, 
and  is  as  yet  unconscious  of  the  fact  that  his  spirit 
has  become  endowed  with  the  cruelties  of  the  tiger. 

' '  If  this  state  continues  until  the  body  be  dissolved 


90 

or  changed  into  other  matter,  be  dead,  as  we  say, 
that  same  spirit  which  lias  been  endowed  with  the 
cravings  of  lust  and  anger  of  a  tiger,  of  exactly  the 
same  nature  and  feelings  as  those  that  have 
appeared  in  the  body  of  the  man  before  his  death, 
may  reappear  now  to  find  itself  in  the  body  of  a 
tiger,  suitable  to  its  nature.  Thus,  so  long  as  man 
is  ignorant  of  that  nature  of  Dharma,  and  fails  to 
identify  that  nature,  he  continues  to  receive  dif- 
ferent impressions  l^rom  beings  around  him  in  this 
universe,  thereby  sufferings,  pains,  sorrows,  disap- 
pointments of  all  kinds,  death. 

"If,  however,  his  spirit  be  impressed  with  the  good 
qualities  that  are  found  in  a  superior  being,  such  as 
the  deva,  for  instance,  by  adopting  in  his  own  life 
the  acts  and  wills  of  that  superior  being  man 
becomes  spiritually  that  superior  being  himself,  both 
in  nature  and  soul,  even  while  in  his  present  form. 
When  death  puts  an  end  to  his  physical  body  a 
spirit  of  the  very  same  nature  and  quality  may 
reappear  in  the  new  body  of  a  deva,  to  enjoy  a  life 
of  happiness  not  to  be  compared  to  anything  that  is 
known  in  this  world. 

"However,  to  all  beings  alike,  whether  superior  or 
inferior  to  ourselves,  death  is  a  suffering.  It  is, 
therefore,  undesirable  to  be  born  into  any  being 
that  is  a  modification  of  Dharma,  to  be  sooner  or 
later,  again  and  again,  dissolved  by  the  eternal 
phenomenon  of  evolution.  The  only  means  by 
which  we  are  able  to  free  ourselves  from  sufferings 
and  death  is,  therefore,  to  possess  a  perfect  knowl- 
edge of  Dharma,  and  to  realize  by  will  and  acts  that 


A   RKLiaiOUS   SYMPOSIUM.  91 

nature  only  obtainable  by  adhering  to  the  precepts 
given  by  Lord  Buddha  in  the  four  Noble  Truths. 
The  consciousness  of  self-being  is  a  delusion,  so 
that,  until  we  are  convinced  that  we  ourselves  and 
whatever  belongs  to  ourselves  is  a  mere  nothing- 
ness, until  we  have  lost  the  idea  or  impression  that 
we  are  men,  until  that  idea  be  completely  annihil- 
ated and  we  have  become  united  to  Dharma,  we  are 
unable  to  reach  spiritually  the  state  of  Mrvana, 
and  that  is  only  attained  when  the  bodies  dissolve 
both  spiritually  and  physicall3^  So  that  one 
should  cease  all  petty  longing  for  personal  hap- 
piness, and  remember  that  one  life  is  as  hollow  as 
the*other,  that  all  is  transitory  and  unreal. 

"The  true  Buddhist  does  not  mar  the  purity  of  his 
self-denial  by  lusting  after  a  positive  happiness 
which  he  himself  shall  enjoy  here  or  hereafter. 
Ignorance  of  Dharma  leads  to  sin,  wliicli  leads  to 
sorrow;  and  under  these  conditions  of  existence 
each  new  birth  leaves  man  ignorant  and  finite  still. 
What  is  to  be  hoped  for  is  the  absolute  repose  of 
Nirvana,  the  extinction  of  our  being,  nothingness. 
Allow  me  to  give  an  illustration:  A  piece  of  rope  is 
thrown  in  a  dark  road;  a  silly  man  passing  by  can 
not  make  out  what  it  is.  In  his  natural  ignorance 
the  rope  appears  to  be  a  horrible  snake,  and  imme- 
diately creates  in  him  alarm,  fright,  and  suffering. 
Soon  light  dwells  upon  him;  he  now  realizes  tliat 
what  he  took  to  be  a  snake  is  but  a  piece  of  rope. 
His  alarm  and  fright  are  suddenly  at  an  end;  they 
are  annihilated,  as  it  were.  The  man  now  becomes 
happy  and  free  from  the  suffering  he  has  just 
experienced  through  his  own  folly. 


92 

"It  is  precisely  the  same  with  ourselves,  our  lives, 
our  deaths,  our  alarms,  our  cries,  our  lamentations, 
our  disappointments,  and  all  other  sufferings. 
They  are  created  by  our  own  ignorance  of  eternity, 
of  the  knowledge  of  Dharma  to  do  away  with  and 
annihilate  all  of  them. 

"  I  shall  now  refer  to  the  four  Noble  Truths  as 
taught  by  our  merciful  and  omniscient  Lord 
Buddha;  they  point  out  the  path  that  leads  to 
Nirvana,  or  to  the  desirable  extinction  of  self. 

"  The  first  noble  truth  is  suffering;  it  arises  from 
birth,  old  age,  illness,  sorrow,  death,  separation, 
and  from  what  is  loved,  association  with  what  is 
hateful,  and,  in  short,  the  very  idea  of  self  in  spirit 
and  matters  that  constitute  Dharma.  The  second 
Noble  Truth  is  the  cause  of  suffering  which  results 
from  ignorance,  creating  lust  for  objects  of  a  perish- 
able nature.  If  the  lust  be  for  sensual  objects  it  is 
called,  in  Pali,  Kama  Tanha.  If  it  be  for  supersen- 
sual  objects,  belonging  to  the  mind  but  still  possess- 
ing a  form  in  the  mind,  it  is  called  Bhava  Tanha. 
If  the  lust  be  pure  for  supersensual  objects  that 
belong  to  the  mind,  but  are  devoid  of  all  form  what- 
ever, it  is  called  Wibhava  Tanha.  The  third  Noble 
Truth  is  the  extinction  of  sufferings,  which  is 
brought  about  by  the  cessation  of  the  three  kinds  of 
lust,  together  with  their  accompanying  evils,  which 
all  result  directly  from  ignorance.  The  fourth  Noble 
Truth  is  the  means  of  paths  that  lead  to  the  cessation 
of  lusts  and  other  evils.  This  Noble  Truth  is  divided 
into  the  following  eight  paths:  Eight  understand- 
ing, right  resolutions,  right  speech,  right  acts,  right 


A  RELIGIOUS   SYMPOSIUM.  93 

way  of  earning  a  livelilioodj  right  efforts,  right 
meditation,  right  state  of  mind.  A  few  words  of 
explanation  on  these  paths  may  not  be  out  of  place: 

''By  right  understanding  is  meant  prox)er  com- 
prehension, especially  in  regard  to  what  we  call 
sufferings.  We  should  strive,  to  learn  the  cause  of 
our  sufferings  and  the  manner  to  alleviate  and  even 
to  suppress  them.  We  are  not  to  forget  that  we 
are  in  this  world  to  suffer;  that  wherever  there  is 
pleasure  there  is  pain,  and  that,  after  all,  pain  and 
pleasure  only  exist  according  to  human  ideas. 

"By  right  resolutions  is  meant  that  it  is  our 
imperative  duty  to  act  kindly  to  our  fellow-creat- 
ures. We  are  to  bear  no  malice  against  anybody 
and  never  seek  revenge.  We  are  to  understand 
that  in  reality  we  exist  in  flesh  and  blood  only  for  a 
short  time,  and  that  hapx)iness  and  sufferings  are 
transient  or  idealistic,  and  therefore  we  should  try 
to  control  our  desires  and  cravings  and  endeavor 
to  be  good  and-  kind  toward  our  fellow-creatures. 

"By  right  speech  is  meant  that  we  are  always  to 
speak  the  truth,  never  to  incite  one's  anger  toward 
others,  but  always  to  speak  of  things  useful,  and 
never  use  harsh  words  destined  to  hurt  the  feelings 
of  others.  By  right  acts  is  meant  that  we  should 
never  harm  our  fellow-creatures,  neither  steal,  take 
life,  nor  commit  adultery.  Temperance  and  celibacy 
are  also  enjoined.  By  right  way  of  earning  a  liveli- 
hood is  meant  that  we  are  always  to  be  honest  and 
never  to  use  wrongful  or  guilty  means  to  attain  an 
end.  By  right  efforts  is  meant  that  we  are  to  perse- 
vere in  our  endeavors  to  do  good  and  to  mend  our 


94 

conduct  should  we  ever  have  strayed  from  the  path 
of  virtue.  By  right  meditation  is  meant  that  we 
should  always  look  upon  life  as  being  temporary, 
consider  our  existence  as  a  source  of  suffering,  and 
therefore  endeavor  always  to  calm  our  minds  that 
may  be  excited  by  the  sense  of  pleasure  or  pain. 
By  right  state  of  mind  is  meant  that  we  should  be 
firm  in  our  belief,  and  be  strictly  indifferent  both  to 
the  sense  or  feeling  of  pleasure  and  joain. 

''It  would  be  out  of  place  here  to  enter  into  fur- 
ther details  on  the  four  Noble  Truths;  it  would 
require  too  much  time.  I  will,  therefore,  merely 
summarize  their  meanings  and  say  that  sorrow  and 
sufferings  are  mainly  due  to  ignorance,  which 
creates  in  our  minds  lust,  anger,  and  other  evils. 
The  extermination  of  all  sorrow  and  suffering,  and 
of  all  unhappiness,  is  attained  by  the  eradication  of 
ignorance  and  its  evil  consequences,  and  by  replac- 
ing it  with  cultivation,  knowledge,  contentment, 
and  love. 

"Now  comes  the  question.  What  is  good  and 
what  is  evil?  Every  act,  speech,  or  thought  derived 
from  falsehood,  or  that  which  is  injurious  to  others, 
is  evil.  Every  act,  speech,  or  thought  derived  from 
truth,  and  that  which  is  not  injurious  to  others,  is 
good.  Buddhism  teaches  that  lust  prompts  avarice, 
anger  creates  animosity,  ignorance  produces  false 
ideas.  These  are  called  evils  because  they  cause 
pain.  On  the  other  hand,  contentment  prompts 
charity,  love  creates  kindness,  knowledge  produces 
progressive  ideas.  These  are  called  gO(-d  because 
they  give  pleasure. 


A  EBLIGI0U8  SYMPOSIUM.  95 

''The  teachings  of  Buddhism  on  morals  are  nu- 
merous, and  are  divided  into  three  groups  of  advan- 
tages: The  advantage  to  be  obtained  in  the  present 
life,  the  advantage  to  be  obtained  in  the  future  life, 
and  the  advantage  to  be  obtained  in  all  eternity. 
For  each  of  these  advantages  there  are  recommended 
numerous  paths  to  be  followed  by  those  v^ho  aspire 
to  any  one  of  them.  I  will  only  quote  a  few  ex- 
amples. To  those  who  aspire  to  advantages  in  the 
present  life  Buddhism  recommends  diligence,  econ- 
omy, expenditure  suitable  to  one's  income,  and 
association  with  the  good.  To  those  who  asjjire  to 
the  advantages  of  the  future  life  are  recommended 
charity,  kindness,  knowledge  of  right  and  wrong. 
To  those  who  wish  to  enjoy  the  everlasting  advan- 
tages in  all  eternity  are  recommended  purity  of 
conduct,  of  mind,  and  of  knowledge. 

*'  Allow  me  now  to  say  a  few  words  on  the  duties 
of  man  toward  his  wife  and  family,  as  preached  by 
the  Lord  Buddha  himself  to  the  lay  disciples  in  dif- 
ferent discourses,  or  Sutras,  as  they  are  called  in 
Pali.  They  belong  to  the  group  of  advantages  of 
present  life.  A  good  man  is  characterized  by  seveii 
qualities.  He  should  not  be  loaded  with  faults,  he 
should  be  free  from  laziness,  he  should  not  boast  of 
his  knowledge,  he  should  be  truthful,  benevolent, 
content,  and  should  aspire  to  all  that  is  useful. 

^'A  husband  should  honor  his  wife,  never  in- 
sult her,  never  displease  her,  make  her  mistress  of 
the  house,  and  provide  for  her.  On  her  part,  a  wife 
ought  to  be  cheerful  toward  him  when  he  works, 
entertain  his  friends  and  care  for  his  dependents,  to 


96  world's  religious  congresses. 

never  do  anything  he  does  not  wish,  to  take  good 
care  of  the  wealth  he  has  accumulated,  not  to  be 
idle,  but  always  cheerful  when  at  work  herself. 

' '  Parents  in  old  age  expect  their  children  to  take 
care  of  them,  to  do  all  their  work  and  business,  to 
maintain  the  household,  and,  after  death,  to  do 
honor  to  their  remains  by  being  charitable.  Parents 
help  their  children  by  preventing  them  from  doing 
sinful  acts,  by  guiding  them  in  the  path  of  virtue, 
by  educating  them,  by  providing  them  with  hus- 
bands and  wives  suitable  to  them,  by  leaving  them 
legacies.  When  poverty,  accident,  or  misfortune 
befalls  man,  the  Buddhist  is  taught  to  bear  it  with 
patience,  and  if  these  are  brought  on  by  himself  it 
is  his  duty  to  discover  their  causes  and  try,  if  possi- 
ble, to  remedy  them.  If  the  causes,  however,  are 
not  to  be  found  here  in  this  life  lie  must  account  for 
them  by  the  wrongs  done  in  his  former  existence. 
Temperance  is  enjoined  upon  all  Buddhists,  for 
the  reason  that  the  habit  of  using  intoxicating 
things  tends  to  lower  the  mind  to  the  level  of  that 
of  an  idiot,  a  madman,  or  an  evil  spirit. 

"  These  are  some  of  the  doctrines  and  moralities 
taught  by  Buddhism,  which  I  hope  will  give  you  an 
idea  of  the  scope  of  the  Lord  Buddha's  teachings. 
In  closing  this  brief  paper  I  earnestly  wish  you  all, 
my  brother  religionists,  the  enjoyment  of  long  life, 
happiness,  and  prosperity." 

The  gentle  Dharmapala  of  Ceylon,  who  won  all 
hearts  by  his  refined  intelligence,  affectionate  and 
uniform  charity,  and  his  zeal  to  lift  all  men  out  of 


p.  a  MOZOOMDAR, 

Brahmo-Somaj,  Calcutta,  India. 


A   RELIGIOUS   SYMPOSIUM.  97 

gross  selfishness,  read  on  sevegjal  occasions  from  an 
extended  exposition  of  the  teachings  and  influence 
of  Buddhism.  We  quote  here  from  his  address  the 
following  showing  of  some  points  of  difference  and 
of  resemblance  between  Buddhism  and  Cliristianity: 

"Max  Miiller  says:  'When  a  religion  has 
ceased  to  produce  champions,  prophets,  and  mar- 
tyrs, it  had  ceased  to  live  in  the  true  sense  of  the 
word,  and  the  decisive  battle  for  the  dominion  of 
the  world  would  have  to  be  fought  out  among  the 
three  missionary  religions  which  are  alive  —  Bud- 
dhism, Mohammedanism  and  Christianity.'  Sir 
William  W.  Hunter,  in  his  'Indian  Emjure' 
(1893),  says:  'The  secret  of  Buddha's  success  was 
that  he  brought  spiritual  deliverance  to  the  people. 
He  X3 reached  that  salvation  was  equally  open  to  all 
men,  and  that  it  must  be  earned,  not  by  propitiating 
imaginary  deities,  but  by  our  *own  conduct.  His 
doctrines  thus  cut  away  the  religious  basis  of  caste, 
and  that  of  the  efficiency  of  the  sacrificial  ritual,  and 
assailed  the  supremacy  of  the  Brahmans  (priests) 
as  the  mediators  between  God  and  man.'  Buddha 
taught  that  sin,  sorrow,  and  deliverance,  the  state  of 
man  in  this  life,  in  all  previous  and  in  all  future 
lives,  are  the  inevitable  results  of  his  own  acts 
(Karma).  He  thus  apj)lied  the  inexorable  law  of 
cause  and  effect  to  the  soul.  What  a  man  sows  he 
must  reap. 

"  As  no  evil  remains  without  punishment  and  no 
good  deed  without  reward,  it  follows  that  neither 
priest  nor  God  can  prevent  each  act  bearing  its  own 
consequences.     Misery  or  happiness  in  this  life  is 

7 


98 

the  unavoidable  re8i:jlt  of  our  conduct  in  a  past  life, 
and  our  actions  here  will  determine  our  happiness 
or  misery  in  the  life  to  come.  When  any  creature 
dies  he  is  born  again,  in  some  higher  or  lower  state 
of  existence,  according  to  his  merit  or  demerit.  His 
merit  or  demerit,  that  is,  his  character,  consists  of 
the  sum  total  of  his  actions  in  all  previous  lives. 

"By  this  great  law  of  Karma  Buddha  explained 
the  inequalities  and  apparent  injustice  of  man's 
estate  in  this  world  as  the  consequence  of  acts  in 
the  past,  while  Christianity  compensates  those 
inequalities  by  rewards  in  the  future.  A  system  in 
which  our  whole  well-being,  past,  present,  and  to 
come,  depends  on  ourselves,  theoretically,  leaves 
little  room  for  the  interference,  or  even  existence, 
of  a  personal  God.  But  the  atheism  of  Buddha 
was  a  philosophical  tenet,  which,  so  far  from  weak- 
ening the  function*  of  right  and  wrong,  gave  them 
new  strength  from  the  doctrine  of  Karma,  or  the 
metempsychosis  of  character.  To  free  ourselves 
from  the  thrall  dom  of  desire  and  from  the  fetters  of 
selfishness  was  to  attain  to  the  state  of  the  perfect 
disciple  in  this  life  and  to  the  everlasting  rest  after 
death. 

"The  great  practical  aim  of  Buddha's  teaching- 
was  to  subdue  the  lusts  of  the  llesh  and  the  crav- 
ings of  self,  and  this  could  only  be  attained  by  the 
practice  of  virtue.  In  place  of  rites  and  sacrifices 
Buddha  prescribed  a  code  of  x)ractical  morality  as 
the  means  of  salvation.  The  four  essential  features 
of  that  code  were:  Keverence  to  spiritual  teachers 
and  parents,  control  over  self,  kindness  to  other 


A   RELIGIOUS   SYMPOSIUM.  99 

men,  and  reverence  for  the  lifft  of  all  creatures.     He 
urged  on  his  disciples  that  they  must  not  only  fol 
low  the  true  path  themselves,  but  that  they  should 
teach  it  to  all  mankind. 

"The  life  and  teachings  of  Buddha  are  also  begin- 
ning to  exercise  a  new  influence  on  religious  thought 
in  Europe  and  America.  Buddhism  will  stand 
forth  as  the  embodiment  of  the  eternal  verity  that 
as  a  man  sows  he  will  reap,  associated  with  the 
duties  of  mastery  over  self  and  kindness  to  all  men, 
and  quickened  into  a  popular  religion  by  the  exam- 
ple of  a  noble  and  beautiful  life. 

"Here  are  some  Buddhist  teachings  as  given  in 
the  words  of  Jesus  and  claimed  by  Christianity: 

"  'Whosoever  cometh  to  me  and  heareth  my  say- 
ings and  doeth  them,  he  is  like  a  man  which  built  a 
house  and  laid  the  foundation  on  a  rock. 

"  'Why  call  ye  me  lord  and  do  not  the  things 
which  I  say? 

"  '  Judge  not,  condemn  not,  forgive. 

'"Love  your  enemies  and  do  good,  hoping  for 
nothing  again,  and  your  reward  shall  be  great. 

' '  '  Blessed  are  they  that  hear  the  word  of  God  and 
keep  it. 

"  '  Be  ready,  for  the  Son  of  Man  cometh  at  an  hour 
when  ye  think  not. 

' '  '  Sell  all  that  ye  have  and  give  it  to  the  poor. 

"  '  Soul,  thou  hast  much  goods  laid  up  for  many 
years;  take  thine  ease,  eat,  drink,  and  be  merry. 
But  God  said  unto  him,  Thou  fool,  this  night  thy 
soul  shall  be  required  of  thee,  then  whose  shall 
these  things  be  which  thou  hast  provided^ 


100  world's  religious  congresses. 

"  '  The  life  is  more  than  meat  and  the  body  more 
than  raiment.  Whosoever  he  be  of  yon  that  for- 
saketh  not  all  that  he  hath  he  can  not  be  my 
disciple. 

' '  '  He  that  is  faithful  in  that  which  is  least  is  faith- 
ful in  much. 

'*  '  Whosoever  shall  tave  his  life  shall  lose  it,  and 
whosoever  shall  lose  his  life  shall  preserve  it. 

"  '  For  behold  the  kingdom  of  God  is  within  you. 

a  i  There  is  no  man  that  hath  left  house  or  parents, 
or  brethren,  or  wife,  or  children  for  the  kingdom  of 
God's  sake  who  shall  not  receive  manifold  more  in 
this  present  time. 

'' '  Take  heed  to  yourselves  lest  at  any  time  your 
hearts  be  overcharged  with  surfeiting  and  drunken- 
ness and  cares  of  this  life.  Watch  ye,  therefore,  and 
pray  always.' 

"Here  are  some  Buddhist  teachings  for  compari- 
son: 'Hatred  does  not  cease  by  hatred  at  any  time. 
Hatred  ceases  by  love.  This  is  an  ancient  law.  Let 
us  live  happily,  not  hating  those  who  hate  us. 
Among  men  who  hate  us,  let  us  live  free  from 
hatred.  Let  one  overcome  anger  by  love.  Let  him 
overcome  evil  by  good.  Let  him  overcome  the 
greedy  by  liberality.  Let  the  liar  be  overcome  by 
truth. 

"  'As  the  bee,  injuring  not  the  flower,  its  color  or 
scent,  flies  away,  taking  the  nectar,  so  let  the  wise 
man  dwell  upon  the  earth. 

"  '  Like  a  beautiful  flower,  full  of  color  and  full  of 
scent,  the  flne  words  of  him  who  acts  accordingly 
are  full  of  fruit. 


A  RELIGIOUS   SYMPOSIUM.  101 

*'  'Let  Mm  speak  the  truth,  let,hin^i  net  yield. tp 
anger,  let  him  give  when  asked,  even' from  the  little 
he  has.     By  these  things  he  will  efit^x  he^itii^jii. . ; 

"  'The  man  who  has  transgressed  Oiie  law  and 
speaks  lies  and  denies  a  future  world,  there  is  no 
sin  he  could  not  do. 

' '  '  The  real  treasure  is  that  laid  up  through  charity 
and  piety,  temperance  and  self-control;  the  treasure 
thus  hid  is  secured,  and  passes  not  away. 

"  'He  who  controls  his  tongue,  speaks  wisely  and 
is  not  puffed  up,  who  holds  up  the  torch  to  enlighten 
the  world,  his  word  is  sweet. 

"'Let  his  livelihood  be  kindness,  his  conduct 
righteousness;  then  in  tbe  fullness  of  gladness  he 
will  make  an  end  of  grief. 

"  '  He  who  is  tranquil  and  has  completed  his  course, 
who  sees  truth  as  it  really  is,  but  is  not  partial 
when  there  are  persons  of  different  faith  to  be  dealt 
with,  who  with  firm  mind  overcomes  ill  will  and  cov- 
etousness,  he  is  a  true  disciple. 

"  'As  a  mother,  even  at  the  risk  of  her  own  life, 
protects  her  son,  her  only  son,  so  let  each  one  culti- 
vate good- will  without  measure  among  all  beings.' 

"Nirvana  is  a  state  to  be  realized  here  on  this 
earth.  He  who  has  reached  the  fourth  stage  of 
holiness  consciously  enjoys  tlie  bliss  of  Nirvana. 
But  it  is  beyond  the  reach  of  him  who  is  selfish, 
skeptical,  realistic,  sensual,  full  of  hatred,  full  of 
desire,  proud,  self-righteous,  and  ignorant.  When 
by  supreme  and  unceasing  effort  he  destroys  all  self- 
ishness and  realizes  the  oneness  of  all  beings;  is  free 
from  all  prejudices  and  dualism;  when  he  by  patient 


102  world's  religious  congresses. 

inrestigation, disco  vers  truth,  tlie  stage  of  holiness 
is  reached.  ^ 

.  '. ';  AmoTig  Buddhist  ideals  are  self-sacrifice  for  the 
sake  of  others,  compassion  based  on  wisdom,  joy  in 
the  hope  that  there  is  final  bliss  for  the  pure-minded, 
altruistic  individual.  The  student  of  Buddha's 
religion  takes  the  burden  of  life  with  sweet  content- 
ment; uprightness  is  his  delight;  he  encompasses 
himself  with  holiness  in  word  and  deed;  he  sustains 
his  life  by  means  that  are  quite  pure;  good  is  his 
conduct;  guarded  the  door  of  his  senses;  mindful 
and  self-possessed,  he  is  altogether  happy. 

'^H.  T.  Buckle,  the  author  of  the  'History  of 
Civil'zation,'  says:  'A  knowledge  of  Buddhism  is 
necessary  to  the  right  understanding  of  Christianity. 
Buddbism  is,  besides,  a  most  philosophical  creed. 
Theologians  should  study  it.' 

*'  In  his  inaugural  address  delivered  at  the  Con- 
gress of  Orientals  last  year.  Max  Miiller  remarked: 
'As  to  the  religion  of  Buddha  being  influenced  by 
foreign  thought,  no  true  scholar  now  dreams  of  that. 
The  religion  of  Buddha  is  the  daughter  of  the  old 
Brahman  religion,  and  a  daughter  in  many  resjDects 
more  beautiful  than  the  mother.  On  the  contrary, 
it  was  through  Buddhism  that  India,  for  the  first 
time,  stepped  forth  from  its  isolated  position  and 
became  an  actor  in  the  historical  drama  of  tlie  world.' 

' '  Doctor  Hoey,  in  his  preface  to  Doctor  Oldberg'  s 
excellent  work  on  Buddha,  says:  '  To  thoughtful 
men  who  evince  an  interest  in  the  comparative  study 
of  religious  belief,  Buddhism,  as  the  highest  effort 
of  pure  intellect  to  solve  the  problem  of  being,  is 


A   RELIGIOUS    SYMPOSIUM.  108 

attractive.  It  is  not  less  so  to  the  metaphysician 
and  the  sociologist  who  study  the  philosophy  ol'  the 
modern  German  pessimistic  school  and  observe  its 
social  tendencies.' 

"Dr.  Rhys  David  i?ays  that  Buddhism  is  a  field 
of  inquiry  in  wliich  the  only  fruit  to  be  gathered  is 
knowledge.  R.  C.  Dutt  says:  'The  moral  teach- 
ings and  precepts  of  Buddhism  have  so  much  in 
common  with  those  of  Cliristianity  that  some  con- 
nection between  the  two  systems  of  religion  has 
long  been  suspected.  Candid  inquirers  who  have 
paid  attention  to  the  Idstory  of  India  and  of  the 
Greek  world  during  the  centuries  immediately  pre- 
ceding the  Ciiiistian  era,  and  noted  the  intrinsic 
relationship  whicli  existed  between  these  countries 
in  scientific,  religious,  and  literary  ideas,  found  no 
difficulty  in  believing  that  Buddhist  ideas  and 
precepts  penetrated  into  the  Greek  world  before 
the  birth  of  Christ.  The  discovery  of  the  Asoka 
inscription  of  Hirnar,  whicli  tells  us  that  that  en- 
lightened emperor  of  India  made  peace  with  five 
Greek  kings,  and  sent  Buddhist  missionaries  to 
preacli  his  religion  in  Syria,  explains  to  us  the 
process  by  which  the  ideas  were  communicated. 
Researches  into  doctrines  of  the  Therapeuts  in 
Egypt  and  of  the  Essenes  in  Palestine  leave  no 
doubt,  even  in  the  minds  of  such  devout  Christian 
thinkers  as  Dean  Mansel,  that  tlie  movement  which 
those  sects  embodied  was  due  to  Buddhist  mission- 
aries who  visited  Egypt  and  Palestine  within  two 
generations  of  the  time  of  Alexander  the  Great.  A 
few  writers,  like  Benson,  Seydal,  and  Lillie,  maintain 


104 

that  the  Christian  religion  has  sprung  directly  from 
Buddhism.'  " 

JUDAISM. 

Judaism  was  amply  represented  in  its  historic 
relation  to  the  past  and  to  the  future;  but  for  the 
purposes  of  this  comparison  by  no  one  more  ably, 
and  on  no  occasion  more  fully,  than  in  the  address 
of  Dr.  Emil  G.  Hirsch  of  Chicago,  on  the  last  day 
of  the  congress,  upon  "The  Elements  of  Universal 
Religion." 

"The  day  of  national  religions,"  he  said,  "is 
past.  The  God  of  the  universe  speaks  to  all  man- 
kind. He  is  not  the  God  of  Israel  alone,  not  that 
of  Moab,  of  Egypt,  Greece,  or  America.  He  is  not 
domiciled  in  Palestine.  The  Jordan  and  the 
Ganges,  the  Tiber  and  the  Euphrates  hold  water 
wherewith  the  devout  may  be  baptized  unto  his  serv- 
ice and  redemption.  '  Whither  shall  I  go  from 
thy  sjjirit  ?  whither  flee  from  thy  presence  1 ' 
exclaims  the  old  Hebrew  bard.  And  before  his 
wondering  gaze  unrolled  itself  the  awful  certainty 
that  the  heavenly  divisions  of  morning  and  night 
were  obliterated  in  the  all-embracing  sweep  of 
divine  law  and  love.  If  the  wide  expanses  of  the 
skies  and  abysses  of  the  deep  can  not  shut  out  from 
the  divine  presence,  can  the  pigmy  barriers  erected 
by  man  and  protected  by  political  intrigues  and 
national  pride  dam  in  the  mighty  stream  of  divine 
love?  The  prophet  of  Islam  repeats  the  old  Hebrew 
singer's  joy  when  he  says:  'The  east  is  God's  and 
the  west  is  his,'  as  indeed  the  apostle,  true  to  the 


A   RELIGIOUS    SYMPOSIUM.  105 

spirit  of  the  prophetic  message  of  Messianic  Judaism, 
refused  to  tolerate  the  line  of  cleavage  marked  by  lan- 
guage or  national  aifinity.  Greek  and  Jew  are  invited 
by  him  to  the  citizenship  of  the  kingdom  to  come. 

"  The  church  universal  must  have  the  pentecostal 
gift  of  the  many  flaming  tongues  in  it,  as  the  rabbis 
say  was  the  case  at  Sinai.  God's  revelation  must 
be  sounded  in  every  language,  in  every  land.  But, 
and  this  is  essential  as  marking  a  new  advance,  the 
universal  religion  for  all  the  children  of  Adam  will 
not  palisade  its  courts  by  the  pointed  and  forbid- 
ding stakes  of  a  creed.  Creeds  in  time  to  come  will 
be  recognized  to  be  indeed  cruel  barbed-wire  fences, 
wounding  those  that  would  stray  to  broader  past- 
ures and  hurting  others  who  would  come  in. 
Will  it  for  this  be  a  Godless  church?  Ah,  no;  it 
will  have  much  more  of  God  than  the  churches  and 
synagogues  with  their  dogmatic  definitions  now 
possess.  Coming  man  will  not  be  ready  to  resign 
the  crown  of  his  glory  which  is  his  by  virtue  of  his 
feeling  himself  to  be  the  son  of  God.  He  will  not 
exchange  the  churcli's  creed  for  that  still  more  pre- 
sumptous  and  deadening  one  of  materialism  which 
would  ask  his  acceptance  of  the  hopeless  perversion 
that  the  w^orld  which  sweeps  by  us  in  such  sublime 
harmony  and  order  is  not  cosmos,  but  chaos  —  is  the 
fortuitous  outcome  of  the  chance  play  of  atoms  pro- 
ducing consciousness  by  the  interaction  of  their  own 
unconsciousness.  Man  will  not  extinguish  the 
light  of  his  own  higher  life  by  shutting  his  eyes  to 
the  telling  indications  of  purpose  in  history,  a  pur- 
pose which  when  revealed  to  him  in  the  outcome  of 


106 

Ms  own  career  he  may  well  find  reflected  also  in  the 
interrelated  life  of  nature.  But  for  all  this  man  will 
learn  a  new  modesty  now  wofully  lacl\ing  to  so 
many  who  honestly  deem  themselves  religious.  His 
God  will  not  be  a  flgment,  cold  and  distant,  of  met- 
aphysics, nor  a  distorted  caricature  of  embittered 
theology.  '  Can  man  by  searching  find  out  God  ? ' 
asks  the  old  Hebrew  poet.  And  the  ages  so  flooded 
with  religious  strife  or  vocal  with  the  st^iging 
rebuke  to  all  creed-builders  say  that  man  can  not. 
Man  grows  unto  the  knowledge  of  God,  but  not  to 
him  is  vouchsafed  that  fullness  of  knowledge  which 
would  warrant  his  arrogance  to  hold  that  liis 
blurred  vision  is  the  full  light  and  that  there  can  be 
none  other. 

"  Says  Maimonides,  greatest  thinker  of  the  many 
Jewish  philosophers  of  the  middle  ages:  'Of  God 
we  may  merely  assert  that  he  is;  what  he  is  in  him- 
self we  can  not  know.  "My  thoughts  are  not  your 
thoughts  and  my  ways  are  not  your  ways."  '  This 
prophetic  caution  will  resound  in  clear  notes  in  the 
ears  of  all  who  will  worship  in  the  days  to  come  at 
the  universal  shrine.  They  will  cease  their  futile 
efforts  to  give  a  definition  of  him  who  can  not  be 
defined  in  human  symbols.  They  will  certainly  be 
astonished  at  our  persistence  —  in  their  eyes  very 
blasphemy — to  describe  by  article  of  faith  God,  as 
though  he  were  a  fugitive  from  justice  and  a  Pinker- 
ton  detective  should  be  enabled  to  capture  him  by 
the  identification  laid  down  in  the  catalogue  of  his 
attributes.  The  religion  universal  will  not  presume 
to  regulate  God' s  government  of  this  world  by  cir- 


A   RELIGrOUS   SYMPOSIUM.  107 

cumscribing  the  sphere  of  his  possible  salvation  and 
declaring,  as  though  he  had  taken  us  into  his  counsel, 
whom  he  must  save  and  whom  he  may  not  save. 
The  universal  religion  will  once  more  make  the  God 
idea  a  vital  principle  of  human  life.  It  will  teach 
men  to  find  him  in  their  own  hearts  and  to  have  him 
with  them  in  whatever  they  may  do.  No  mortal  has 
seen  God' s  face,  but  he  who  opens  his  heart  to  the 
message  will,  like  Moses  on  the  lonely  rock,  behold 
him  pass  and  hear  the  solemn  proclamation. 

"It  is  not  in  the  storm  of  fanaticism  nor  in  the 
fire  of  prejudice,  but  in  the  still,  small  voice  of  con- 
science, that  God  speaks  and  is  to  be  found.  He 
believes  in  God  who  lives  a  godlike,  i.  e.,  a  goodly, 
life.  Not  he  that  mumbles  his  credo,  but  he  who 
lives  it,  is  accepted.  Were  those  marked  for  glory 
by  the  great  Teacher  of  Nazareth  who  wore  the 
largest  phylacteries?  Is  the  sermon  on  the  mount 
a  creed?  Was  the  decalogue  a  creed?  Character 
and  conduct,  not  creed,  will  be  the  key-note  of  the 
gospel  in  the  Church  of  Humanity  Universal. 

"But  what  then  about  sin?  Sin  as  a  theological 
imputation  will  perhaps  drop  out  of  the  vocabulary 
of  this  larger  communion  of  the  righteous.  But  ns 
a  weakness  to  be  overcome,  an  imperfection  to  be 
laid  aside,  man  will  be  as  potently  reminded  of  his 
natural  shortcomings  as  he  is  now  of  that  of  his  first 
progenitor,  over  whose  conduct  he  certainly  had  no 
control,  and  for  whose  misdeed  he  should  not  be  held 
accountable.  Religion  will  then,  as  now,  lift  man 
above  his  weaknesses  by  reminding  him  of  his 
responsibilities.    The  goal  before  is  Paradise.    Eden 


108 

is  to  rise.  It  has  not  yet  been.  And  the  life  of  the 
great  and  good  and  saintly,  who  went  about  doing 
good  in  their  generations,  and  who  died  that  others 
might  live,  will  for  very  truth  be  pointed  out  as  the 
spring  from  which  have  flowed  the  waters  of  salva- 
tion, by  whose  magic  efficacy  all  men  maybe  washed 
clean,  if  baptized  in  the  spirit  which  was  living 
within  these  Grod-appointed  redeemers,  of  their 
infirmities. 

' '  This  religion  will  indeed  be  for  man  to  lead  him 
to  God.  Its  sacramental  word  will  be  duty.  Labor 
is  not  the  curse  but  the  blessing  of  human  life.  For 
as  man  was  made  in  the  image  of  the  Creator,  it  is 
his  to  create.  Earth  was  given  him  for  his  habita- 
tion. He  changed  it  from  Tohu  into  his  home.  A 
theology  and  a  monotheism  which  will  not  leave 
room  in  this  world  for  man's  free  activity  and  dooms 
him  to  passive  inactivity  will  not  harmonize  with 
the  truer  recognition  that  man  and  God  are  the 
correlates  of  a  working  plan  of  life.  Sympathy  and 
resignation  are  indeed  beautiful  flowers  grown  in  the 
garden  of  many  a  tender  and  noble  human  heart. 
But  it  is  active  love  and  energy  which  alone  can 
push  on  the  chariot  of  human  progress,  and  progress 
is  the  gradual  realization  of  the  divine  spirit  whicli 
is  incarnate  in  every  human  being.  This  principle 
will  assign  to  religion  once  more  the  place  of  honor 
among  the  redeeming  agencies  of  society  from  the 
bondage  of  selfishness.  On  this  basis  every  man  is 
every  other  man' s  brother,  not  merely  in  misery,  but 
in  active  work.  ^  As  you  have  done  to  the  least  of 
these  you  have  unto  me '  will  be  the  guiding  princi- 


A   RELIGIOUS   SYMPOSIUM.  109 

pie  of  liuman  conduct  in  all  the  relations  into  which 
human  life  enters.  No  more  than  Cain's  enormous 
excuse,  a  scathing  accusation  of  himself,  ^  Am  I  my 
brother's  keeper? '  no  longer  will  be  tolerated  or  con- 
doned the  double  standard  of  morality,  one  for 
Sunday  and  the  church  and  another  diametrically 
opposed  for  week-days  and  the  counting-room.  Not 
as  now  will  be  heard  the  cynic  insistence  that '  busi- 
ness is  business '  and  has  as  business  no  connection 
with  the  decalogue  or  the  sermon  oji  the  mount. 
Religion  will,  as  it  did  in  Jesus,  penetrate  into  all 
the  relations  of  human  society.  Not  then  will  men 
be  rated  as  so  many  hands  to  be  bought  at  the  low- 
est possible  price,  in  accordance  Avith  a  deified  law  of 
supply  and  demand,  which  can  not  stop  to  consider 
such  sentimentalities  as  the  fact  that  these  hands 
stand  for  souls  and  hearts. 

"An  invidious  distinction  obtains  now  between 
secular  and  sacred.  It  will  be  wiped  away.  Every 
thought  and  every  deed  of  man  must  be  holy  or  it 
is  unworthy  of  men.  Did  Jesus  merely  regard  the 
temple  as  holy?  Did  Buddha  merely  have  religion 
on  one  or  two  hours  of  the  Sabbath  ?  Did  not  an 
earlier  prophet  deride  and  condemn  all  ritual 
religion?  'Wash  ye,  make  ye  clean.'  Was  this 
not  the  burden  of  Isaiah's  religion?  The  religion 
universal  will  be  true  to  these,  its  forerunners. 

"But  what  about  death  and  hereafter?  This 
religion  will  not  dim  the  hope  which  has  been  man's 
since  the  first  day  of  his  stay  on  earth;  but  it  will 
be  most  emphatic  in  winning  men  to  the  conviction 
that  a  life  worthily  spent  here  on  earth  is  the  best. 


no  world's  religious  congresses. 

is  the  only  preparation  for  heaven.  Said  the  old 
rabbis:  '  One  hour  spent  here  in  truly  good  works 
and  in  the  true  intimacy  with  God  is  more  precious 
than  all  life  to  be.'  The  egotism  which  now  mars 
so  often  the  aspirations  of  our  souls,  the  scramble 
for  glory  which  comes  while  we  forget  duty,  will  be 
replaced  by  a  serene  trust  in  the  eternal  justice  of 
him  4n  whom  we  live  and  move  and  have  our 
being.'  To  have  done  religiously  will  be  a  reward 
sweeter  than  .which  none  can  be  offered.  Yea,  the 
religion  of  the  future  will  be  impatient  of  men  who 
claim  that  they  have  the  right  to  be  saved,  while 
they  are  perfectly  content  that  others  shall  not  be 
saved,  and  while  not  stirring  a  foot  or  lifting  a  hand 
to  redeem  brother  men  from  hunger  and  wretched- 
ness, in  the  cool  assurance  that  this  life  is  destined 
or  doomed  to  be  a  free  race  of  haggling,  snarling 
competitors  in  which  by  some  mysterious  will  of 
Providence  the  devil  takes  the  hindmost. 

"Will  there  be  prayer  in  the  universal  religion? 
Man  will  worship,  but  in  the  beauty  of  holiness  his 
prayer  will  be  the  prelude  to  liis  prayerful  action. 
Silence  is  more  reverential  and  worshipful  than  a 
wild  torrent  of  words  breatliing  forth  not  adoration 
but  greedy  requests  for  favors  to  self.  Can  an 
unforgiving  heart  pray,  'Forgive  as  we  forgive?' 
Can  one  ask  for  daily  bread  when  he  refuses  to 
break  his  bread  with  the  hungry  ?  Did  not  the 
prayer  of  the  great  Master  of  Nazareth  thus  teach  all 
men  and  all  ages  that  prayer  must  be  the  stirring  to 
love?  Had  not  that  little  waif  caught  the  inspira- 
tion of     our    universal     prayer   who,    when    first 


A  KELIGIOUS  SYMPOSIUM.  Ill 

taught  its  sublime  phrases,  persisted  in  changing 
the  opening  words  to  *  Your  father  which  is  in 
heaven  ? '  Rebuked  time  and  again  by  the  teacher, 
he  finally  broke  out,  'Well,  if  it  is  our  father, 
why,  I  am  your  brother.'  Yea,  the  gates  of  prayer 
in  the  church  to  rise  will  lead  to  the  recognition 
of  the  universal  brotherhood  of  man. 

' '  Will  this  new  faith  have  its  Bible  ?  It  will.  It 
retains  the  old  Bibles  of  mankind,  but  gives  them 
a  new  luster  by  remembering  that '  the  letter  killeth, 
but  the  spirit  giveth  life. '  Religion  is  not  a  question 
of  literature,  but  of  life.  God's  revelation  is  con- 
tinuous, not  contained  in  tablets  of  stone  or  sacred 
parchment.  He  speaks  to-day  yet  to  those  that 
would  hear  him.  A  book  is  inspired  when  it 
inspires.  Religion  made  the  Bible,  not  the  book 
religion. 

"And  what  will  be  the  name  of  this  church ?  It 
will  be  known  not  by  its  founders,  but  by  its  fruits 
God  replies  to  him  who  insists  upon  knowing  his 
name:  'I  am  he  who  I  am.'  The  church  will  be. 
If  any  name  it  will  have,  it  will  be  '  the  church  of 
God,'  because  it  will  be  the  church  of  man. 

''When  Jacob,  so  runs  an  old  rabbinical  legend, 
weary  and  footsore  the  first  night  of  his  sojourn 
away  from  home,  would  lay  him  down  to  sleep 
under  the  canopy  of  the  star-set  skies,  all  the 
stones  of  the  field  exclaimed:  '  Take  me  for  thy  pil- 
low.' And  because  all  were  ready  to  serve  him  all 
were  miraculously  turned  into  one  stone.  This 
became  Beth  El,  the  gate  of  lieaven.  So  will  all 
religions,  because  eager  to  become  the  pillow  of  man, 


112  world's  religious  co:n^gresses. 

dreaming  of  God  and  beholding  the  ladder  joining 
earth  to  heaven,  be  transformed  into  one  great  rock 
which  the  ages  can  not  move,  a  foundation-stone 
for  the  all-embracing  temple  of  humanity  united 
to  God's  will  witli  one  accord." 

This  address,  most  enthusiastically  received, 
shows  not  only  the  new  spirit  of  Judaism,  but  repre- 
sents the  popular  discontent  with  artificial,  tradi- 
tional, and  formal  religions,  and  the  demand  for 
reality.  It  was  notable,  not  for  its  definitions,  or 
the  new  light  thrown  upon  religious  questions,  but 
for  its  demand  that  a  man  shall  be  and  do  what  he 
believes.  Christians  and  men  of  the  world,  listen- 
ing, each  defining  "religion"  for  himself,  yet 
enthusiastically  applauded  this  appeal  for  reality 
and  genuineness;  and  this  the  more  because  uttered 
by  a  representative  of  Judaism. 

MOHAMMEDANISM. 

A  religion  which  holds  influence  over  such  mul- 
titudes, whole  tribes  and  nations  having  been 
reclaimed  by  it  from  idolatry,  naturally  received  a 
prominent  place,  and  awakened  much  interest. 
There  has  been  noticeable  in  recent  years,  moreover, 
a  change  in  the  attitude  of  Christians  toward 
Mohammedanism.  Whereas  it  was  formerly  attrib- 
uted to  Satanic  agency,  recently  there  has  grown 
up  a  spirit  of  tolerance,  not  only,  but  a  recognition 
in  it  of  a  mission  from  above,  called  for  by  the  state 
of  the  Eastern  nations,  and  brought  forth  in  the 
Divine  Providence.     One  feels  some  disappointment 


A   RELIGIOUS   SYMPOSIUM.  '         113 

in  the  papers  of  Mohammed  Webb  on  ''The  Spirit 
of  Islam"  and  "The  Influence  of  Islam  on  Social 
Conditions,"  which  are  confined  almost  exclusively 
to  the  superficial  features  of  the  Moslem  religion. 
Some  passages  brought  together  from  the  two 
addresses  delivered  by  him  may  serve  our  present 
purpose.     Defining  Islam,  he  said: 

''Now  let  us  see  what  the  word  Islam  means.  It 
is  the  most  expressive  word  in  existence  for  a 
religion.  It  means  simply  and  literally  resignation 
to  the  will  of  God.  It  means  aspiration  to  God. 
The  Islam  system  is  designed  to  cultivate  all  that  is 
purest  and  noblest  and  grandest  in  the  human  char- 
acter. Some  people  say  Islam  is  impossible  in  a 
high  state  of  civilization.  Now  that  is  the  result 
of  ignorance.  Look  at  Spain  in  the  eighth  century, 
when  it  was  the  center  of  all  the  arts  and  sciences, 
when  Christian  Europe  went  to  Moslem  Spain  to 
learn  all  that  there  was  worth  knowing  —  languages, 
arts,  all  the  new  discoveries  were  to  be  found  in 
Moslem  Spain,  and  in  Moslem  Spain  alone.  There 
was  no  civilization  in  the  world  as  high  as  that  of 
Moslem  Spain. 

"  With  this  spirit  of  resignation  to  the  will  of  God 
is  inculcated  the  idea  of  individual  responsibility, 
that  every  man  is  responsible,  not  to  this  man,  or 
that  man,  or  the  other  man,  but  responsible  to  God 
for  every  thought  and  act  of  his  life.  He  must  pay 
for  every  act  that  he  commits;  he  is  rewarded  for 
every  thought  he  thinks.  There  is  no  mediator, 
there  is  no  priesthood,  there  is  no  ministry. 

"  The  Moslem  brotherhood  stands  upon  a  perfect 


114  woeld's  eeligious  congeesses. 

equality,  recognizing  only  the  fatherhood  of  God 
and  the  brotherhood  of  man.  The  emir,  who  leads 
in  prayer,  preaches  no  sermon.  He  goes  to  the 
mosque  every  day  at  noon  and  reads  two  chapters 
from  the  holy  Koran.  He  descends  to  the  floor, 
upon  a  perfect  level  with  the  hundreds,  or  thou- 
sands, of  worshipers,  and  the  prayer  goes  on,  he 
simply  leading  it.  The  whole  system  is  calculated 
to  inculcate  that  idea  of  perfect  brotherhood. 

"The  subject  is  so  broad,  there  is  so  much  of  it 
that  I  can  only  touch  upon  it.  There  is  so  much 
unfamiliar  to  Americans  and  Englishmen  in  Islam 
that  I  regret  exceedingly  I  have  not  more  time  to 
speak  of  it.  A  man  said  to  me  in  New  York  the 
other  day:  '  Must  I  give  up  Jesus  and  the  Bible  if 
I  become  a  Mohammedan  ? '  No,  no  !  There  is  no 
Mussulman  on  earth  who  does  not  recognize  the 
inspiration  of  Jesus.  The  system  is  one  that  has 
been  taught  by  Moses,  by  Abraham,  by  Jesus,  by 
Mohammed,  by  every  inspired  man  the  world  has 
ever  known.  You  need  not  give  up  Jesus,  but  as- 
sert your  manhood.     Go  to  God. 

"Now,  let  us  look  at  the  practical  side  of  Islam 
in  reference  to  the  api3lication  of  the  spirit  of  Islam 
to  daily  life.  A  Mussulman  is  told  that  he  must 
pray.  So  is  everyone  else;  so  are  the  followers  of 
every  other  religion.  But  the  Mussulman  is  not 
told  to  pray  when  he  feels  like  it,  if  it  does  not  inter- 
fere with  business,  with  his  inclinations,  or  some 
particular  engagement.  Some  people  do  not  pray  at 
such  times;  they  say  it  does  not  make  very  much 
difference,  we  can  make  it  up  some  other  time.     A 


A   RELIGIOUS   SYMPOSIUM.  115 

little  study  of  human  nature  will  show  that  there 
are  people  who"  pray  from  a  conscientious  idea  of 
doing  a  duty,  but  there  are  a  great  many  others  who 
shirk  a  duty  at  every  chance  if  it  interferes  with 
pleasure  or  business.  The  wisdom  of  Mohammed 
was  apparent  in  the  single  item  of  prayer.  He  did 
not  say,  '  Pray  wheu  you  feel  like  it,'  but  'Pray  fiv^e 
times  a  duy  at  a  certain  time.'  Stated  in  the  briefest 
manner  possible,  the  Islamic  system  requires  belief 
in  the  unity  of  God  and  in  the  inspiration  of  Mo- 
hammed. Its  pillars  of  practice  are  physical  and 
mental  cleanliness,  prayer,  fasting,  fraternity,  alms- 
giving, and  pilgrimage.  There  is  nothing  in  it  that 
tends  to  immorality,  social  degradation,  nor  fanati- 
cism. On  the  contrary,  it  leads  on  to  all  that  is 
purest  and  noblest  in  the  human  character;  and  any 
professed  Mussulman  who  is  unclean  in  his  person 
or  habits,  or  is  cruel,  untruthful,  dishonest,  irrever- 
ent, or  fanatical,  fails  utterly  to  grasp  the  meaning 
of  the  religion  he  professes. 

''But  there  is  something  more  in  the  system  than 
the  mere  teaching  of  morality  and  personal  purity. 
It  is  thoroughly  practical,  and  the  results,  which 
are  plainly  apparent  among  the  more  intelligent 
Moslems,  show  how  well  the  prophet  understood 
human  nature.  It  will  not  produce  the  kind  of 
civilization  that  we  Americans  seem  to  admire  so 
much,  but  it  will  make  a  man  sober,  honest,  and 
truthful,  and  will  make  him  love  his  God  with  all  his 
heart  and  all  his  mind,  and  his  neighbor  as  himself. 
Every  Mussulman  who  has  not  become  demoral- 
ized by  contact  with  British  civilization  prays  five 


116 

times  a  day;  not  whenever  he  happens  to  feel  like 
it,  but  at  fixed  periods.  His  prayer  is  not  a  servile, 
cringing  petition  for  some  material  benefit,  but  a 
hymn  of  praise  to  the  one  incomxjrehensible,  un- 
knowable God,  the  omnipotent,  omniscient,  omni- 
I)resent  ruler  of  the  universe.  He  does  not  believe 
that  by  argument  and  entreaty  he  can  sway  the 
judgment  and  change  the  plans  of  God;  but  with 
all  the  force  of  his  soul  he  tries  to  soar  upward  in 
spirit  to  where  he  can  gain  strength  to  be  pure  and 
good  and  holy,  and  worthy  of  the  happiness  of  the 
future  life.  His  purpose  is  to  rise  above  the  selfish 
pleasures  of  earth,  and  strengthen  his  spirit  wings 
for  a  lofty  flight  when  he  is  at  last  released  from 
the  body. 

' '  Before  every  prayer  he  is  required  to  wash  his 
face,  nostrils,  mouth,  hands,  and  feet,  and  he  does 
it.  During  youth  he  acquires  the  habit  of  washing 
himself  five  times  a  day,  and  this  habit  clings  to  him 
through  life  and  keeps  him  physically  clean.  He 
comes  in  touch  with  his  religion  five  times  a  day  in 
a  manner  which  produces  results  proportionate  to 
the  intelligence  and  spiritual  development  of  the 
man  His  religion  is  not  a  thing  apart  from  his 
daily  life,  to  be  put  on  once  a  week,  and  thrown 
aside  when  it  threatens  to  interfere  with  his  busi- 
ness or  pleasure.  It  is  a  fixed  and  inseparable  part 
of  his  existence,  and  exerts  a  direct  and  potent 
influence  on  his  every  thought  and  act.  Is  it  to  be 
wondered  at  that  his  idea  of  civilization  differs  from 
that  of  the  West  ?  That  it  is  less  active  and  pro- 
gressive, less  grand  and  imposing,  and  dazzling  and 


A  RELIGIOUS   SYMPOSIUM.  117 

Qoisy  ?  I  will  confess  that  when  I  went  to  live  among 
the  intelligent  Mussulmans  I  was  astonished  beyond 
measure  at  the  social  conditions  I  encountered.  I 
had  acquired  the  idea  that  prevails  generally  in  this 
country  and  Europe,  and  was  prepared  to  find  the 
professed  followers  of  Islam  selfish,  treacherous, 
untruthful,  intolerant,  sensual,  and  fanatical.  I 
was  very  agreeably  disappointed.  I  saw  the  practi- 
cal results  of  Islam  manifested  in  honesty,  truthful- 
ness, sobriety,  tolerance,  gentleness,  and  a  degree  of 
true  brotherly  love  that  was  a  surprise  to  me.  The 
evils  that  we  Americans  complain  of  in  our  social 
system  —  drunkenness,  prostitution,  marital  infi- 
delity, and  cold  selfishness  —  were  almost  entirely 
absent." 

THE  ROMAN   CATHOLIC   CHURCH. 

Throughout  the  series  of  congresses  the  interest 
and  activity  of  the  Catholic  church  was  conspicuous; 
and  in  the  deliverances  before  the  parliament  none 
surpassed  its  representatives  in  the  generosity  of 
love  for  tlie  good  of  all  men,  combined  with  the 
quiet  dignity  of  faith  in  its  divine  authority  and 
mission  to  help  men.  If  the  individual,  as  Prince 
Wolkonsky  said,  in  proportion  to  the  strength  of 
his  individual  qualities,  seeks  the  more  to  merge 
himself  in  the  church,  it  is  because  he  has  persuaded 
himself  that  the  church  is  of  God,  and  that  he 
speaks  through  it  as  an  organic  whole.  This  was 
the  conclusion  presented  by  Bishop  Keane,  rector 
of  the  Catholic  University  of  America,  in  his  ad- 
dress  on  "The  Center  and  Character  of  the  Ultimate 


118 

Religion,"  at  the  last  session  of  the  parliament.  If 
the  conclusion  was  to  be  expected,  it  may  surprise 
some  to  observe  the  breadth  of  his  recognition  of 
good  and  truth  in  all  religions. 

Starting  out  with  congratulations  at  the  meeting 
of  God's  long-separated  children  to  clasp  hands  in 
friendship  and  in  brotherhood,  he  said:  "  We  have 
had  practical  and  experimental  evidence  of  the  truth 
of  the  old  saying  that  '  there  is  truth  in  all  relig- 
ions." And  he  stated  explicitly  what  was  none  too 
often  remembered:  "  It  is  because  the  human  fam- 
ily started  from  unity,  from  one  undivided  treasury 
of  truth,  and  when  tlie  separations  and  wanderings 
came  they  carried  with  them  what  they  could  of  the 
treasure.  ^N'o  wonder  that  we  all  recognize  the  com- 
mon possession  of  the  olden  truth  when  we  come 
together  at  Inst. 

"Then  we  have  heard  repeated  and  multifarious, 
yet  concordant  definitions  of  what  religion  really 
is,  viewed  in  all  its  aspects;  we  have  seen  how  true 
is' the  old  definition  that  religion  means  the  union 
of  man  with  God.  This,  we  have  seen,  is  the  great 
goal  toward  which  all  aim,  whether  walking  in  the 
fullness  of  the  light  or  groping  in  the  dimness  of 
the  twilight.  And  therefore  we  have  seen  how  true 
it  is  that  religion  is  a  reality  back  of  tdl  religions. 
Religions  are  orderly  or  disorderly  systems  for  the 
attainment  of  that  great  end,  the  union  of  man  with 
God.  Any  system  not  having  that  for  its  aim  may 
be  a  philosophy,  but  can  not  be  a  religion ! 

''And  therefore,  again,  we  have  clearly  recognized 
that  religion,  in  itself    and  in  the  system  for  its 


A  RELIGIOUS   SYMPOSIUM.  119 

attainment,  necessarily  implies  two  sides,  two  con- 
stitutive elements  —  the  human  <ind  the  divine, 
man's  side  to  God's  side,  in  the  union  and  in  the 
way  or  means  to  it.  The  human  side  of  it,  the  crav- 
ing, the  need,  the  aspiration,  is,  as  here  testified, 
universal  among  men.  And  this  is  a  demonstration 
that  the  author  of  our  nature  is  not  wanting  as  to 
his  side;  that  the  essential  religiousness  of  man  is 
not  a  meaningless  trick  of  nature;  that  the  craving 
is  not  a  Tantalus  in  man's  heart  meant  only  for  his 
delusion  and  torture.  This  parliament  has  thus 
been  a  weighty  blow  to  atheism,  to  deism,  to  antag- 
onism, to  naturalism,  to  mere  humanism.  While 
the  utterances  of  these  various  philosophies  have 
been  listened  to  with  courage  and  charity,  yet  its 
whole  meaning  and  moral  has  been  to  the  contrary; 
the  whole  drift  of  its  practical  conclusion  has  been 
that  man  and  the  world  never  could,  and  in  the 
nature  of  things  never  can,  do  without  God,  and  so 
it  is  a  blessing. 

"From  this  standpoint,  therefore,  on  which  our 
feet  are  so  plainly  and  firmly  planted  by  this  parlia- 
ment, we  look  forward  and  ask.  Has  religion  a  future, 
smd,  what  is  that  future  to  be  like?  Again  in  the 
facts  which  we  have  been  studying  during  these 
seventeen  days  we  find  the  data  to  guide  us  to  the 
answer.  Here  we  have  heard  the  voice  of  all  the 
nations,  yea,  and  of  all  the  ages,  certifying  that  the 
human  intellect  mast  have  the  great  first  cause  and 
last  end  as  the  alpha  and  omega  of  its  thinking;  that 
there  can  be  no  philosophy  of  things  without  God. 

"  Here  we  have  heard  the  cry  of  the  human  heart 


120 

all  the  world  over  that  without  God  life  would  not 
be  worth  living.  We  have  heard  the  verdict  of 
human  society  in  all  its  ranks  and  conditions,  the 
verdict  of  those  who  have  most  intelligently  and 
most  disinterestedly  studied  the  problem  of  the 
improvement  of  human  conditions,  that  only  the 
wisdom  and  power  of  religion  can  solve  the  mighty 
social  problems  of  the  future,  and  that  in  proportion 
as  the  world  advances  toward  the  perfection  of  self- 
government,  the  need  of  religion  as  a  balance-power 
in  every  human  life,  and  in  the  relations  of  man 
with  man  and  of  nation  with  nation,  becomes  more 
and  more  imperative.  'Next  we  must  ask,  Shall  the 
future  tendency  of  religion  be  to  greater  unity,  or 
to  greater  diversity? 

"  This  parliament  has  brought  out  in  clear  light 
the  old  familiar  truth  that  i**eligion  has  a  two-fold 
aim  —  the  improvement  of  the  individual  and, 
through  that,  the  improvement  of  society  and  of 
race;  that  it  must,  therefore,  have  in  its  system  of 
organization  and  its  methods  of  action  a  two-fold 
tendency  and  plan  on  the  one  side  to  what  might  be 
called  religious  individualism,  on  the  other  side 
what  may  be  termed  religious  socialism  or  solidarity; 
on  the  one  side,  adequate  provision  for  the  dealings, 
of  God  with  the  individual  soul;  on  the  other,  pro- 
vision for  the  order,  the  harmony,  the  unity,  which 
is  always  a  characteristic  of  the  works  of  God,  and 
which  is  equally  the  aim  of  wisdom  in  human 
things,  for  'order  is  heaven's  first  law.' 

''The  parliament  has  also  shown  that,  if  it  may 
be  truly  alleged  that  there  have  been  times  when 


A  EELIGIOUS   SYMPOSIUM.  121 

solidarity  pressed  too  heavily  on  individualism,  at 
present  the  tendency  is  to  an  extreme  of  individu- 
alism threatening  to  fill  the  world  more  and  more 
with  religious  confusion  and  distract  the  minds  of 
men  with  religious  contradictions. 

"But  on  what  basis,  what  method,  is  religious 
unity  to  be  attained  or  approached?  Is  it  to  be  by 
a  process  of  elimination,  or  by  a  process  of  synthesis? 
Is  it  to  be  by  laying  aside  all  disputed  elements,  no 
matter  how  manifestly  true  and  beautiful  and  use- 
ful, so  as  to  reach  at  last  the  simplest  form  of 
religious  assertion,  the  protoplasm  of  the  religious 
organism?  Or,  on  the  contrary,  is  it  to  be  by  the 
acceptance  of  all  that  is  manifestly  true,  and  good, 
and  useful,  of  all  that  is  manifestly  from  the  heart 
of  God  as  well  as  from  the  heart  of  humanity,  so  as 
to  attain  to  the  developed  and  perfected  organism 
of  religion?  To  answer  this  momentous  question 
wisely  let  us  glance  at  analogies. 

"First,  in  regard  to  human  knowledge,  we  are, 
and  must  be,  willing  to  go  down  to  the  level  of  un- 
informed or  imperfectly  informed  minds;  not,  how- 
ever, to  make  that  the  intellectual  level  of  all,  but  in 
order  that  from  that  low  level  we  may  lead  up  to 
the  higher  and  higher  levels  which  knowledge  has 
reached.  In  like  manner  as  to  civilization,  we  are 
willing  to  meet  the  barbarian  or  the  savage  on  his 
own  low  level,  not  in  order  to  assimilate  our  condi- 
tion to  his,  but  in  order  to  lead  him  up  to  better 
conditions.  So  also  in  scientific  research  we  go 
down  to  the  study  of  the  protoplasm  and  of  the  cell, 
but  only  in  order  that  we  may  trace  the  process  of 


122  world'  s  religious  congresses. 

differentiation,  of  accretion,  of  development  by 
which  higher  and  higher  forms  of  organization  lead 
to  the  highest.  In  the  light,  therefore,  of  all  the 
facts  here  placed  before  us,  let  us  ask  to  what  result 
gradual  development  will  lead  us. 

'^In  the  first  place,  this  comi:>arison  of  all  the 
principal  religions  of  the  world  has  demonstrated 
that  the  only  worthy  and  admissible  idea  of  God  is 
that  of  monotheism.  It  has  shown  that  polytheism 
in  all  its  forms  is  only  a  rude  degeneration.  It 
has  proved  that  pantheism  in  all  its  modifications, 
obliterating  as  it  does  the  personality  both  of  God 
and  of  man,  is  no  religion  at  all,  and  therefore 
inadmissible  as  such.  That  it  can  not  even  be 
admitted  as  a  philosophy,  since  its  very  first  postu- 
lates are  metaphysical  contradictions.  Hence,  the 
basis  of  all  religion  is  the  belief  in  the  one  living- 
God. 

"  Next,  this  parliament  has  shown  that  humanity 
repudiates  the  gods  of  the  Epicureans,  who  Avere  so 
taken  wp  with  their  own  enjoyment  that  they  had 
no  thought  for  poor  man,  and  nothing  to  say  to 
him  for  his  instruction  and  no  cai'e  to  bestow 
on  him  for  his  welfare.  It  has  shown  that  the 
god  of  agnosticism  is  only  the  god  of  the  Epi- 
cureans dressed  up  in  modern  garb  and  that  he 
cares  nothing  for  humanity,  but  leaves  it  in  the 
dark;  humanity  cares  nothing  for  him  and  is  will- 
ing to  leave  him  to  his  unknowableness.  As  the 
first  step  in  the  solid  ascent  of  the  true  religion  is 
belief  in  the  one  living  God,  so  the  second  must  be 
the  belief  that  the  great  Father  has  taught  his 


A   EELIGIOUS   SYMPOSIUM.  123 

children  what  they  need  to  know  nnd  what  they 
need  to  be  in  order  to  attain  their  destiny,  that 
is,  belief  in  divine  revelation. 

^' Again,  the  i3arliament  has  shown  that  all  the 
attemjits  of  the  tribes  of  earth  to  recall  and  set 
forth  God's  teaching,  all  their  endeavors  to  tell  of 
the  means  i)rovided  by  the  Almighty  God  for  uniting 
man  with  himself,  logically'-  and  historically  lead 
up  to  and  culminate  in  Jesus  Christ.  The  world 
longing  for  the  truth  points  to  him  who  brings  its 
fullness.  The  world's  sad  wail  over  the  wretched- 
ness of  sin  points  not  to  despairing  escape  from  the 
thralls  of  humanity  —  a  promise  of  escape  which  is 
only  an  impossibility  and  a  delusion  —  but  to  hu- 
manity's cleansing,  and  uplifting,  and  restoration  in 
his  redemption.  The  world's  craving  for  union 
with  the  divine  finds  its  archetypal  glorious  realiza- 
tion in  his  incarnation,  and  to  a  share  in  4:hat  won- 
drous union  all  are  called  as  branches  of  the  mystical 
vine,  members  of  the  mystical  body,  which  lifts 
humanity  above  its  natural  state  and  jiours  into  it 
the  life  of  love. 

"Therefore  does  the  verdict  of  the  ages  proclaim 
in  the  words  of  the  a]30stle  of  the  Gentiles,  who 
knew  him  and  knew  all  the  rest:  '  Other  founda- 
tion can  no  man  lay  but  that  which  God  hath  laid, 
which  is  Christ  Jesus.'  As  long  as  God  is  God  and 
man  is  man,  Jesus  Christ  is  the  center  of  religion 
forever. 

''But,  still  further,  we  have  seen  that  Jesus 
Christ  is  not  a  myth,  not  a  symbol,  but  a  personal 
reality.     He  is  not  a  vague,  shadowy  personality, 


124  world's  religious  congresses. 

leaving  only  a  dim,  vague,  mystical  impression  be- 
hind liim;  he  is  a  clear  and  definite  personality, 
with  a  clear  and  definite  teaching  as  to  truth,  clear 
and  definite  command  as  to  duty,  clear  and  definite 
ordaining  as  to  the  means  by  which  God's  life 
is  imparted  to  man  and  by  which  man  receives  it, 
corresponds  to  it,  and  advances  toward  perfection. 

"ThewoQdrous  message  he  sent  'to  every  creat- 
ure,' proclaiming,  as  it  had  never  been  proclaimed 
before,  the  value  and  the  rights  of  each  individual 
soul,  the  sublimest  individualism  the  world  has  ever 
heard  of.  And  then,  with  the  heavenly  balance 
and  equilibrium  which  brings  all  individualities 
into  order,  and  harmony,  and  unity,  he  calls  all  to 
be  sheep  of  ( ne  fold,  branches  of  one  vine,  mem- 
bers of  one  body,  in  which  all,  while  members  of 
one  head,  are  also  'members  one  of  another,'  in 
which  is  the  fulfillment  of  his  own  sublime  prayer 
and  x>ropliecy:  'That  all  may  be  one,  as  thou. 
Father,  in  me,  and  I  in  thee,  that  they  also  may  be 
one  in  us,  that  ihey  may  be  made  perfect  in  one.' 

"Thus  he  makes  his  church  a  perfect  society, 
both  human  and  divine;  on  its  human  side  the 
most  perfect  multiplicity  in  unity  and  unity  in 
multiplicity,  the  most  XDerfect  socialism  and  solidar- 
ity that  the  world  could  ever  know;  on  its  divine 
side,  the  instrumentality  devised  by  the  Saviour  of 
the  world  for  imparting,  maintaining,  and  operating 
the  action  of  the  divine  life  in  each  soul;  in  its  en- 
tirety, the  body,  the  vine,  both  divine  and  human, 
a  living  organism,  imparting  the  life  of  God  to  hu- 
manity.    Thiis  is  the  way  in  which  the  church  of 


A   KELIGIOUS   SYMPOSIUM.  125 

Christ  is  presented  to  us  by  the  apostles  and  by 
our  Lord  himself.  It  is  a  concrete  individuality,  as 
distinct  and  unmistakable  as  himself.  It  is  no  mere 
aggregation,  no  mere  cooperation  or  confederation 
of  distinct  bodies;  it  is  an  organic  unity,  it  is  the 
body  of  Christ,  our  means  of  being  ingrafted  in 
him  and  sharing  in  his  life." 

Many  who  felt  the  bishop  mistaken  in  his  conclu- 
sion that  the  Catholic  church  is  the  organic  body  of 
Christ,  presented  by  the  apostles  and  kept  in  living- 
integrity  by  the  spirit  of  the  Lord  from  the  begin- 
ning for  its  ultimate  perfection,  could  not  but  feel 
the  majesty  of  the  conception,  and  the  ultimate  cer- 
tainty of  some  such  realization,  even  if  only  in  a 
spiritual  and  invisible  bond,  when  he  concluded 
with  these  words:  "Jesus  Christ  is  the  ultimate 
center  of  religion.  He  has  declared  that  his  one 
organic  church  is  equally  ultimate.  Because  I  be- 
lieve him,  here  must  be  my  stand  forever." 

THE   GREEK    CHUECH. 

One  of  the  most  eloquent  and  every  way  remark- 
able of  the  addresses  before  the  parliament  was  the 
oration  of  Archbishop  Latus,  on  the  part  of  Greece 
and  the  Greek  church  in  the  history  of  Christianity. 
It  set  forth  in  noble  review  the  intellectual  prej)ara- 
tion  of  the  world  for  Christianity  through  the  influ- 
ence of  Grecian  learning  and  philosopliy. 

"Ancient  Greece  prepared  the  way  for  Christian- 
ity, and  rendered  smooth  the  path  for  the  diffusion 
and  propagation  of  it  in  the  world      Greece  under- 


126  wokld's  religious  congresses. 

took  to  develop  Christianity,  and  formed  and  sys- 
tematized a  Christian  church;  that  is  the  church  of 
the  East,  the  original  Christian  church,  which  for 
this  reason  historically  and  justly  may  be  called 
the  mother  of  the  Christian  churches.  The  orig- 
inal establishment  of  the  Greek  church  is  directly 
referred  to  the  presence  of  Jesus  Christ  and  his 
apostles.  The  coming  of  the  Messiah,  from  which 
the  kingdom  of  God  was  to  originate  in  this  world, 
was  at  a  fixed  point  of  time,  as  the  Apostle  Paul 
said.  The  fullness  of  this  point  of  time  ancient 
Greece  was  predestined  to  point  out  and  determine. 
Greece  had  bo  developed  letters,  arts,  sciences,  phi- 
losophy, and  every  other  form  of  progress,  that  in 
comparison  with  it  all  other  nations  were  exhausted. 
For  this  reason  the  inhabitants  of  that  happy  land 
used  rightly  and  properly  to  say:  '  Whoever  is  not 
a  Greek  is  a  barbarian.'  But  while  at  that  time, 
under  Plato  and  Aristotle,  Greek  philosophy  had 
arrived  at  the  highest  phase  of  its  development, 
Greece  at  that  very  period,  after  these  great  philos- 
ophers, began  to  decline  and  fall.  Tlie  Macedonian 
and  Roman  armies  gave  a  definite  blow  to  the  polit- 
ical independence  and  national  liberty  of  Greece, 
but  at  the  same  time  opened  up  to  Greece  a  new 
career  of  spiritual  life,  and  brought  them  into  imme- 
diate contact  and  intercommunication  with  other 
nations  and  peoples  of  the  earth." 

Tracing  then  the  development  of  Grecian  philos- 
ophy in  Alexandria,  and  its  contact  there  with 
Judaism,  and  the  refiex  effect  upon  Grecian  thought, 


A   KELIGIOUS   SYMPOSIUM.  127 

the  archbishop  proceeded  to  show  the  relation  of 
this  intellectual  preparation  to  the  reception  of 
Christianity. 

*' When  the  Roman  Empire  began  to  fall  Chris- 
tianity had  to  undertake  the  great  struggle  of 
acquiring  superiority  over  all  other  religions  that  it 
might  demolish  the  partition  walls  which  separated 
race  from  race,  nation  from  nation.  It  is  the  work 
of  Christianity  to  bring  all  men  into  one  spiritual 
family,  into  the  love  of  one  another,  and  into  the 
belief  of  one  suj^reme  God.  Mary,  the  most  blessed 
of  all  human  kind,  appears  and  brings  forth  the 
expected  divine  nature,  revealed  to  Plato.  She 
brings  forth  the  fulfillment  of  the  ideals  of  the  Gods 
of  the  different  peoples  and  nations  of  the  ancient 
world.  She  brings  forth  at  last  that  one  whose 
name,  whose  shadow  came  down  into  the  world  and 
overshadowed  the  souls,  the  minds,  the  hearts  of  all 
men,  and  removed  the  mystery  from  every  philoso- 
phy and  philosophic  system. 

' '  In  this  permanent  idea  and  the  tendencies  of  the 
different  peoples  in  such  a  time  and  religion,  I  may 
say  two  voices  are  heard.  One,  though  it  is  from 
Palestine,  reechoed  into  Egypt,  and  especially  to 
Alexandria  and  through  parts  of  Greece  and  Rome. 
Another  voice  from  Egypt  reechoed  through  Pales- 
tine, and  through  it  over  all  the  other  countries  and 
peoples  of  the  East.  And  the  voices  from  Palestine, 
having  Jerusalem  as  their  focus  and  center,  reechoed 
the  voice  back  again  to  the  Grecians  and  the 
Romans.  And  there  it  was  that  his  doctrine  fell 
amidst  the  Greek  nations,  the  Grecian  elements  of 


128 

character,  Greek  letters,  and  the  sound  reasoning 
of  different  systems  of  Greek  jjhilosophy. 

"  Surely  in  the  regeneration  of  the  different  peo- 
ples there  had  been  a  divine  revelation  in  the  forma- 
tion of  all  human  kind  into  one  spiritual  family 
through  the  goodness  of  God.  In  one  family  equal, 
without  any  distinctions  between  tbe  mean  and  the 
great,  without  distinction  of  climate  or  race,  with- 
out distinction  of  national  destiny  or  inspiration,  of 
name  or  nobility,  or  family  ties.  And  all  the 
beauties  which  ever  clustered  around  the  ladder  of 
Jacob,  or  were  given  to  it  by  the  men  of  Judea,  were 
given  by  the  prophets  to  the  Virgin  Mary  in  the 
cave  of  Bethlehem.  But  Greece  gave  Christianity 
the  letters,  gave  the  art,  gave,  as  I  may  say,  the 
enlightenment  with  which  the  Gosjjel  of  Christianity 
was  invested,  and  pre^sented  itself  then  and  now 
presents  itself  before  all  nations." 

Following  the  history  of  the  introduction  of  Chris- 
tianity into  Greece,  reciting  in  magnificent  decla- 
mation Paul's  sermon  on  Mars  Hill,  translating 
and  applying  it  in  scarcely  less  remarkable  English, 
he  concluded: 

"It  suffices  me  to  say  that  no  one  of  you,  I 
believe,  in  the  presence  of  these  historical  docu- 
ments will  deny  that  the  original  Christian,  the  first 
Christan  church  was  the  church  of  the  East,  and 
that  is  the  Greek  church.  Surely  the  first  Christian 
churches  in  Asia  Minor,  Egypt,  and  Assyri  i  were 
instituted  by  the  apostles  of  Christ  and  for  the 
most  part  in  Greek  communities.  All  those  are  the 
foundation-stones    on     which    the    present  Greek 


,«      "«•«. 


MOST  REV.  DIONYSIOS   LATUS, 

Archbishop  of  Zante,  Greece. 


A   RELIGIOUS   SYMPOSIUM.  129 

church  is  based.  The  apostles  themselves  preached 
and  wrote  in  the  Greek  letters,  and  all  the  teachers 
and  writers  of  the  gospel  in  the  East,  the  contem- 
poraries and  the  successors  of  the  apostles,  were 
teaching,  i3reaching,  and  writing  in  the  Greek  lan- 
guage. Especially  the  two  great  schools,  that  of 
Alexandria  and  that  of  Antioch,  undertook  to 
develop  Christianity  and  form  and  systematize  a 
Christian  church.  The  great  teachers  and  writers 
of  these  two  schools,  whose  names  are  ver\'  well 
known,  labored  courageously  to  defend  and  deter- 
mine forever  the  Christian  doctrine  and  to  con- 
stitute under  divine  rules  and  forms  a  Christian 
church.  At  last  the  Greek  church,  therefore,  may 
be  called  historically  and  justly  the  treasurer  of  the 
first  Christian  doctrine,  fundamental  evangelical 
truths.  It  may  be  called  the  ark  which  bears  the 
spiritual  manna  and  feeds  all  those  who  look  to  it 
in  order  to  obtain  from  it  the  richness  of  the  ideas 
and  the  unmistakable  reasoning  of  every  Christian 
doctrine,  of  every  evangelical  truth,  of  every 
ecclesiastical  sentiment. 

' '  After  this  my  oration  about  the  Greek  church  I 
have  nothing  more  to  add  than  to  extend  my  open 
arms  and  embrace  all  those  who  attend  this  congress 
of  the  ministers  of  the  world.  I  embrace,  as  my 
brothers  in  Jesus  Christ,  as  my  brothers  in  the 
divinely  inspired  gospel,  as  my  friends  in  eminent 
ideas  and  sentiments,  all  men;  for  we  have  a  common 
creator,  and  consequently  a  common  father  and  God. 
And  I  pray  you  lift  with  me  for  a  moment  the  mind 
toward  the  divine  presence,  and  say  with  me,  with 


130  wukld's  religious  congresses. 

all  your  minds  and  hearts,  a  prayer  to  Almighty 
God." 

Here  the  grand  old  churchman  lifted  his  hands 
and  his  eyes  heavenward,  and  said: 

"Most  High,  Omnipotent  King,  look  down  upon 
human  kind;  enlighten  us  that  we  may  know  thy 
will,  thy  ways,  thy  holy  truths.  Bless  and  magnify 
the  reunited  peoples  of  the  world  and  the  great 
people  of  the  United  States  of  America,  whose 
greatness  and  kindness  has  invited  us  from  the 
remotest  parts  of  the  earth  in  this  their  Columbian 
year  to  see  witli  them  an  evidence  of  their  progress 
in  the  wonderful  achievements  of  the  human  mind 
and  the  human  soul." 

JAPAl^ESE   CRITICISM   AND    APPEAL. 

On  more  than  one  occasion  Christendom  and 
Christianity,  as  represented  by  missionaries  and 
Christian  civilization,  came  in  for  severe  criticism 
from  the  representatives  of  other  religions. 

Kinza  Riuge  Hirai  of  Japan  created  quite  a  sen- 
sation by  an  earnest  assault  upon  the  treatment  of 
Japan  by  so-called  Christian  nations.  Among  other 
things  in  his  arraignment  he  said: 

''Admitting,  for  the  sake  of  argument,  that  we 
are  idolaters  and  heathen,  is  it  Christian  morality  to 
trample  upon  the  rights  and  advantages  of  a  non- 
Christian  nation,  coloring  all  their  natural  happi- 
ness with  the  dark  stain  of  injustice?  I  read  in  the 
Bible,  'Whosoever  shall  smite  thee  on  thy  right 
cheek,  turn  to  him  thy  left  also' ;  but  I  can  not  dis- 
cover there  any  passage  which  says,   'Whosoever 


A   RELIGIOUS   SYMPOSIUM.  131 

shall  demand  Justice  of  thee  smite  his  right  cheek, 
and  when  he  turns  smite  the  other  also.'  Again  I 
read  in  the  Bible,  '  If  any  man  will  sue  thee  at  law, 
and  take  away  thy  coat,  let  him  have  thy  cloak 
also';  but  I  can  not  discover  there  any  passage 
which  says,  'If  thou  shalt  sue  any  man  at  the  law, 
and  take  away  his  coat,  let  him  give  thee  his  cloak 
also. '  You  send  your  missionaries  to  Japan  and  they 
advise  us  to  be  moral  and  believe  Christianity.  We 
like  to  be  moral;  we  know  that  Christianity  is  good; 
and  we  are  very  thankful  for  this  kindness;  but  at 
the  same  time  our  people  are  rather  perplexed  and 
very  much  in  doubt  about  this  advice.  For  we 
think  that  the  treaty  stipulated  in  the  time  of  feud- 
alism, when  we  were  yet  in  our  youth,  is  still  clung 
to  by  the  powerful  nations  of  Christendom;  when 
we  find  that  every  year  a  good  many  western  vessels 
engaged  in  the  seal  fishery  are  smuggled  into  our 
seas;  when  legal  cases  are  decided  by  the  foreign 
authorities  in  Japan  unfavorably  to  us;  when  some 
years  a  Japanese  was  not  allowed  to  enter  a  univer- 
sity on  the  Pacific  Coast  of  America  because  of  his 
being  of  a  different  race;  when  a  few  months  ago 
the  school  board  of  San  Francisco  enacted  a  regula- 
tion that  no  Japanese  should  be  allowed  to  enter 
the  public  school  there;  when  last  year  the  Japan- 
ese were  driven  out  in  wholesale  from  one  of  the 
territories  of  the  United  States  of  America;  when 
our  business  men  in  San  Francisco  were  compelled 
by  some  union  not  to  employ  the  Japanese  assist- 
ants or  laborers,  but  the  Americans;  when  there  are 
some  in  the  same  city  who  speak  on  the  platforms 


132  world's  religious  congresses. 

against  those  of  us  who  are  already  here;  when 
there  are  many  men  who  go  in  processions  hoisting 
lanterns  marked  '  Jap  must  go' ;  when  the  Japanese 
in  the  Hawaiian  Islands  are  deprived  of  their  suf- 
frage; when  we  see  some  western  people  in  Japan 
who  erect  before  the  entrance  of  their  houses  a 
special  post  upon  which  is  the  notice,  '  No  Japanese 
is  allowed  to  enter  here,'  just  like  a  board  upon 
which  is  written,  '  No  dogs  allowed' ;  when  we  are 
in  such  a  situation  is  it  unreasonable  —  notwith- 
standing the  kindness  of  the  western  nations,  from 
one  point  of  view,  who  send  their  missionaries  to  us 
—  for  us  intelligent  heathen  to  be  embarrassed  and 
hesitate  to  swallow  the  sweet  and  warm  liquid  of 
the  heaven  of  Christianity?  If  such  be  the  Christian 
ethics,  well,  we  are  perfectly  satisfied  to  be  heathen. 
"If  any  person  should  claim  that  there  are  many 
people  in  Japan  who  speak  and  write  against  Chris- 
tianity, I  am  not  a  hypocrite  and  I  will  fraukly 
state  that  I  was  the  first  in  my  country  who  ever 
publicly  attacked  Christianity  —  no,  not  real  Chris- 
tianity, but  false  Christianity,  the  wrongs  done 
toward  us  by  the  people  of  Christendom.  If  any 
reprove  the  Japanese  because  they  have  had  strong 
an ti- Christian  societies,  I  will  honestly  declare  that 
I  was  the  first  in  Japan  who  ever  organized  a  society 
against  Christianity  —  no,  not  against  real  Chris- 
tianity, but  to  protect  ourselves  from  false  Chris- 
tianity and  the  injustice  which  we  receive  from  the 
people  of  Christendom.  Do  not  think  that  I  took 
such  a  stand  on  account  of  my  being  a  Buddhist,  for 
this  was  my  position  many  years  before  I  entered 


A   RELIGIOUS   SYMPOSIUM.  133 

the  Buddhist  temple;  but  at  the  same  time  I  will 
proudly  state  that  if  any  one  discussed  the  affinity 
of  all  religions  before  the  public,  under  the  title  of 
Synthetic  Religion,  it  was  T.  I  say  this  to  you 
because  I  do  not  wish  to  be  understood  as  a  bigoted 
Buddhist  sectarian. 

"Really  there  is  no  sectarian  in  my  country. 
Our  people  well  know  what  abstract  truth  is  in 
Christianity,  and  we,  or  at  least  I,  do  not  care  about 
the  names  if  I  speak  from  the  point  of  teaching. 
Whether  Buddhism  is  called  Christianity  or  Chris- 
tianity is  named  Buddhism,  whether  we  are  called 
Confucianists  or  Shintoists,  w^e  are  not  particular; 
but  we  are  very  particular  about  the  truth  taught 
and  its  consistent  application.  Whetlier  Christ 
saves  us  or  drives  us  into  hell,  whether  Gautama 
Buddha  was  a  real  person  or  there  never  was  such 
a  man,  it  is  not  a  matter  of  consideration  to  us,  but 
the  consistency  of  doctrine  and  conduct  is  the  point 
on  which  we  put  the  greater  importance.  Therefore 
unless  the  inconsistency  which  we  observe  is  re- 
nounced, and  especially  the  unjust  treaty  by  which 
we  are  entailed  is  revised  upon  an  equitable  basis,  our 
people  will  never  cast  away  their  prejudices  about 
Christianity,  in  spite  of  the  eloquent  orator  who 
speaks  its  truth  from  the  pulpit.  We  are  very  often 
called  barbarians,  and  I  have  heard  and  read  that 
Japanese  are  stubborn  and  can  not  understand  the 
truth  of  the  Bible.  I  will  admit  that  this  is  true  in 
some  sense,  for,  though  they  admire  the  eloquence 
of  the  orator  and  wonder  at  his  courage,  though  they 
approve    his    logical  argument,  yet  they  are  very 


134  world's  religious  cot^gresses. 

stubborn  and  will  not  join  Christianity  as  long  as 
they  think  it  is  a  western  morality  to  preach  one 
thing  and  practice  another." 

Far  more  significant  than  this  criticism  of  (he 
breach  between  Christian  theory  and  practice  is  an 
appeal  made  at  a  later  day  from  the  Christianity  of 
the  sects  to  the  Christianity  of  the  gospels.  N. 
Kishimoto,  speaking  of  the  future  of  religion  in 
Japan,  i)ointed  out  that  "that  country  is  the  battle- 
field between  religion  and  no  religion,  and  also 
between  Christianity  and  other  systems  of  religion,"" 
and  in  concluding  said: 

"In  my  mind  there  is  no  doubt  that  Christianity 
will  survive  in  this  struggle  for  existence  and 
become  the  future  religion  of  the  land  of  the  rising 
sun.  My  reasons  for  this  are  numerous,  but  I  must 
be  brief.  In  the  first  place,  Christianity  claims  to 
be  and  is  the  universal  religion.  It  teaches  one 
God,  who  is  the  father  of  all  mankind,  but  is  so 
pliable  that  it  can  adapt  itself  to  any  environment, 
and  then  it  can  transform  and  assimilate  the  environ- 
ment to  itself.  This  is  amply  proved  by  its  history. 
In  the  second  place,  Christianity  is  inclusive.  It 
is  a  living  organism,  a  seed  or  germ  which  is  capa- 
ble of  growth  and  development  and  which  will 
leaven  all  the  nations  of  the  world.  In  growing  it 
drawls  and  can  draw  its  nutritious  elements  from 
any  sources.  It  survives  the  struggle  of  existence 
and  feeds  and  grows  on  the  flesh  of  the  fallen. 

"In  the  third  place,  Christianity  teaches  that  man 
was  created  in  the  image  of  God.     The  human  is 


A   KELIC4I0US   SYMPOSIUM.  135 

divine  and  the  divine  is  human.  Here  lies  the 
merit  of  Christianity,  in  ni3lifting  man,  all  human 
beings  —  young  and  old,  men  and  women,  the 
governing  and  the  governed  —  to  their  i^roper  posi- 
tion. In  the  fourth  place,  Christianity  teaches  love 
to  God  and  love  to  men  as  its  fundamental  teachiiig. 
The  golden  rule  is  the  glory  of  Christianity,  not 
because  it  was  originated  by  Christ  —  this  rule  was 
also  taught  by  Buddha  and  Lao-tsee  many  centuries 
before  —  but  because  he  properly  emphasized  it  by 
his  words  and  by  his  life.  In  the  fifth  place,  Chris- 
tianity requires  every  man  to  be  perfect,  as  the  Father 
in  heaven  is  j)erfect.  Here  lies  the  basis  for  the  hope 
of  man's  infinite  develox)ment  in  science,  in* art,  and 
in  character  —  in  one  word,  in  perfection.  In  brief 
these  are  some  of  the  reasons  which  make  me  think 
that  sooner  or  later  Christianity  will,  as  it  ought  to, 
become  the  future  religion  of  Japan. 

''If  Christianity  will  triumph  and  become  the 
religion  of  Japan,  which  form  of  Christianity,  or 
Christianity  of  which  denomination,  will  become 
the  religion  of  Japan?  Catholic  Christianity  or 
Protestant  Christianity?  We  do  not  want  Catholic 
Christianity,  nor  do  we  want  Protestant  Chris- 
tianity. We  want  the  Christianity  of  the  Bible, 
nay,  the  Christianity  of  Christianity.  We  do  not 
want  the  Christianity  of  England  nor  the  Chris- 
tianity of  America;  we  want  the  Christianity  of 
Japan.  On  the  whole,  it  is  better  to  have  different 
sects  and  denominations  than  to  have  lifeless  monot- 
ony. The  Christian  church  should  observe  the 
famous  saying  of  St.  Vincent:     'In  essentials,  unity; 


136  world's  religious  congresses. 

ill  non-essentials,  liberty;  in  all  things  charity.' 
We  Japanese  want  the  Christianity  of  the  Christ. 
We  want  the  truth  of  Christianity;  nay,  we  want 
the  truth  pure  and  simple.  We  want  the  spirit  of 
the  Bible  and  not  its  letter.  We  hope  for  the 
union  of  all  Christians,  at  least  in  spirit  if  not 
possible  in  form.  But  we  Japanese  Christians  are 
hoping  more;  we  are  ambitious  to  present  to  the 
world  one  new  and  unique  interpretation  of  Chris- 
tianity as  it  is  presented  in  our  Bible,  which  knows 
no  sectarian  controversy  and  which  knows  no  heresy 
hunting.  Indeed,  the  time  is  cominsr,  and  ought  to 
come,  when  God  shall  be  worshiped,  not  by  rites  and 
ceremonies,  but  he  shall  be  worshiped  in  spirit  and 
in  truth." 

This  voice  from  the  Orient  will  be  hailed  by  many 
as  a  hopeful  portent.  If  some  despair  of  anything 
better  in  the  effort  of  native  churches  to  find  in  the 
Gospels  the  religion  of  Jesus  Christ,  others,  more 
hopeful  and  more  faithful,  will  see  in  that  effort  the 
promise  of  a  true  Christian  church  that  may  yet 
become  the  teacher  of  a  Christendom  that  has  lost 
its  teaching  power  through  the  falsities  of  centuries' 
inventing.  And  this  aspiration  after  a  new  and 
native  form  of  Christianity,  free  from  the  dogmas  of 
Western  theologies,  and  suited  to  the  genius  of 
the  oriental  mind,  recalls  another  form  of  faith;  a 
reform  in  the  religion  of  India  which  its  founder, 
Cheshub  Chunder  Senn,  proclaimed  as  ''The  New 
Dispensation  in  India." 


A   RELIGIOUS    SYMPOSIUM.  137 

THE   BRAHMO-SOMAJ. 

Much  interest  attaches  to  this  development  of 
Hinduism,  because,  started  as  a  reform  movement 
in  India,  it  became  in  its  development  under  the 
leadership  of  Cheshub  Chunder  Senn  in  some  degree 
a  native  Christian  church.  Since  the  death  of 
Chunder  Senn,  P.  C.  Mozoomdar,  who  was  present 
and  spoke  often  at  the  congresses,  has  been  the 
acknowledged  leader  of  the  movement.  The  Rev. 
B.  B.  Nagarkar  of  Bombay  furnished  in  his  ad- 
dress the  following  simple  and  beautiful  exposi- 
tion of  ^'  The  Ideals  of  the  Brahmo-Somaj ": 

^ '  The  fundamental  spiritual  ideal  of  the  Brahmo- 
Somaj  is  belief  in  the  existence  of  one  true  God. 
Now,  the  expression  belief  in  the  existence  of  God 
is  nothing  new  to  you.  In  a  way  you  all  believe  in 
God,  but  to  us  of  the  Brahmo-Somaj  that  belief  is 
a  stern  reality;  it  is  not  a  logical  idea;  it  is  nothing 
arrived  at  after  an  intellectual  process.  It  must  be 
our  aim  to  feel  God,  to  realize  God  in  our  daily 
spiritual  communion  with  him.  We  must  be  able, 
as  it  were,  to  feel  his  touch  —  to  feel  as  if  we  were 
shaking  hands  with  him.  This  deep,  vivid,  real, 
and  lasting  perception  of  the  Supreme  Being  is  the 
first  and  foremost  ideal  of  the  theistic  faith. 

'^  You  in  the  Western  countries  are  too  aj)t  to  for- 
get this  ideal.  The  ceaseless  demand  on  your  time 
and  energy,  the  constant  worry  and  hurry  of  your 
business  activity,  and  the  artificial  conditions  of 
your  Western  civilization  are  all  calculated  to  make 
you  forgetful  of  the  personal  presence  of  God.  You 
are  too  apt  to  be  satisfied  with  a  mere  belief  —  per- 


138  world's  religious  congresses. 

haps  at  tlie  best  a  notional  belief  in  God.  The  East- 
ern does  not  live  on  such  a  belief,  and  such  a  belief 
can  never  form  the  life  of  a  life-giving  faith.  It  is 
said  that  the  way  to  an  Englishman's  heart  is 
through  his  stomach;  that  is,  if  you  wish  to  reach 
his  heart  you  must  do  so  through  the  medium  of 
that  wonderful  organ  called  the  stomach.  The 
stomach,  therefore,  is  the  life  of  an  Englishman, 
and  all  his  life  rests  in  his  stomach. 

"Wherein  does  the  heart  of  a  Hindu  lie  ?  It  lies 
in  his  sight.  He  is  not  satisfied  unless  and  until  he 
has  seen  God.  The  highest  dream  of  his  spiritual 
life  is  God-vision  —  the  seeing  and  feeling  in  every 
place  and  at  every  time  the  presence  of  a  Supreme 
Being.     He  does  not  live  by  bread  but  by  sight. 

"  The  second  s^jiritual  ideal  of  the  Brahmo-Somaj 
is  the  unity  of  truth.  We  believe  that  truth  is  born 
in  time  but  not  in  a  place.  No  nation,  no  people, 
or  no  community  has  any  exclusive  monopoly  of 
God's  truth.  It  is  a  misnomer  to  speak  of  truth  as 
Christian  truth,  Hindu  truth,  or  Mohammedan  truth. 
Truth  is  the  body  of  God.  In  his  own  providence 
he  sends  it  through  the  instrumentality  of  a  nation 
or  a  people,  but  that  is  no  reason  why  that  nation 
or  that  people  should  pride  themselves  for  having 
been  the  medium  of  that  truth.  Thus  we  must 
always  be  ready  to  receive  the  gospel  truth  from 
whatever  country  and  from  whatever  people  it  may 
come  to  us.  We  all  believe  in  the  principle  of 
free  trade  or  unrestricted  exchange  of  goods.  And 
we  eagerly  hope  and  long  for  the  golden  day  when 
people  of  every  nation  and  of  every  clime  will  pro- 


A   RELIGIOUS   SYMPOSIUM.  139 

claim  the  principle  of  free  trade  in  spiritual  matters 
as  ardently  and  as  zealously  as  they  are  doing  in 
secular  affairs  or  in  industrial  matters. 

"It  apx^ears  to  me  that  it  is  the  duty  of  us  all  to 
put  together  the  grand  and  glorious  truths  believed 
iu  and  taught  by  different  nations  of  the  world. 
This  synthesis  of  truth  is  a  necessary  result  of  the 
recognition  of  the  principle  of  the  unity  of  truth. 
Owing  to  this  character  of  the  Brahmo-Somaj  the 
church  of  Indian  theism  has  often  been  called  an 
eclectic  church;  yes,  the  religion  of  the  Brahmo- 
Somaj  is  the  religion  of  eclecticism,  of  putting 
together  the  spiritual  truths  of  the  entire  humanity 
and  of  earnestly  striving  after  assimilating  them 
with  our  spiritual  being.  The  religion  of  the 
Brahmo-Somaj  is  inclusive  and  not  exclusive. 

"The  third  spiritual  ideal  of  the  Brahmo-Somaj 
is  the  harmony  of  prophets.  We  believe  that  the 
prophets  of  the  world  —  spiritual  teachers  such  as 
Vyas  and  Buddha,  Moses  and  Mohammed,  Jesus 
and  Zoroaster,  all  form  a  homogeneous  whole. 
Each  has  to  teach  mankind  his  own  message. 
Every  prophet  was  sent  from  above  with  a  distinct 
message,  and  it  is  the  duty  of  us  who  live  in  these 
advanced  times  to  put  these  messages  together  and 
thereby  harmonize  and  unify  the  distinctive  teach- 
ings of  the  prophets  of  the  world.  It  would  not  do 
to  accept  the  one  and  reject  all  the  others,  or  to 
accept  some  and  reject  even  a  single  one.  The 
general  truths  taught  by  these  different  prophets 
are  nearly  the  same  in  their  essence;  but  in  the 
midst  of  all  these  universal  truths  that  they  taught 


140  world's  religious  congresses. 

eacli  has  a  distinctive  truth  to  teach,  and  it  should 
be  our  earnest  purpose  to  find  out  and  understand 
this  particular  truth.  To  me  Vyas  teaches  how  to 
understand  and  apprehend  the  attributes  of  divin- 
ity. The  Jewish  prophets  of  the  Old  Testament 
teach  the  idea  of  the  sovereignty  of  God;  they 
speak  of  God  as  a  king,  a  monarch,  a  sovereign 
who  rules  over  the  affairs  of  mankind  as  nearly  and 
as  closely  as  an  ordinary  human  king.  Mohammed, 
on  the  other  hand,  most  emphatically  teaches  the 
idea  of  the  unity  of  God.  He  rebelled  against  the 
trinitarian  doctrine  imported  into  the  religion  of 
Christ  through  Greek  and  Roman  influences.  The 
monotheism  of  Mohammed  is  hard  and  unyielding, 
aggressive,  and  almost  savage.  I  have  no  sympathy 
with  the  errors  or  erroneous  teachings  of  Moham- 
medanism, or  of  any  religion,  for  that  matter.  In 
spite  of  all  such  errors  Mohammed's  ideal  of  the 
unity  of  God  stands  supreme  and  unchallenged  in  his 
teachings.  Buddha,  the  great  teacher  of  morals  and 
ethics,  teaches  in  most  sublime  strains  the  doctrine 
of  Nirvana,  or  self-denial  and  self-effacement.  This 
principle  of  extreme  self-abnegation  means  nothing 
more  than  the  subjugation  and  conquest  of  our 
carnal  self.  For  you  know  that  man  is  a  composite 
being.  In  him  he  has  the  angelic  and  the  animal, 
and  the  spiritual  training  of  our  life  means  no  more 
than  subjugation  of  the  animal  and  the  setting  free  of 
the  angelic.  So,  also,  Christ  Jesus  of  Nazareth 
taught  a  sublime  truth  when  he  inculcated  the  noble 
idea  of  the  fatherhood  of  God.  He  taught  many 
other  truths,  but  the  fatherhood  of  God  stands  su- 


A   RELIGIOUS   SYMPOSIUM.  141 

preme  above  them  all.  The  brotherhood  of  man  is  a 
mere  corollary,  or  a  conclusion,  deduced  from  the 
idea  of  the  fatherhood  of  God.  Jesus  taught  this 
truth  in  the  most  emphatic  language,  and  therefore 
that  is  the  special  message  that  he  has  brought  to 
fallen  humanity.  In  this  way,  by  means  of  an  honest 
and  earnest  study  of  the  lives  and  teachings  of  dif- 
ferent prophets  of  the  world,  ^e  can  find  out  the 
central  truth  of  each  faith.  Having  done  this  it 
should  be  our  highest  aim  to  harmonize  all  these 
and  to  build  up  our  spiritual  nature  on  them. 

''  The  religious  history  of  the  present  century  has 
most  clearly  shown  the  need  and  necessity  of  the 
recognition  of  some  universal  truths  in  religion. 
For  the  last  several  years  there  has  been  a  ceaseless 
yearning,  a  deep  longing  after  such  a  universal 
religion.  The  present  parliament  of  religions, 
which  we  have  been  for  the  last  few  days  celebrat- 
ing with  so  much  edification  and  ennoblement,  is 
the  clearest  indication  of  this  universal  longing, 
and  whatever  the  proj)hets  of  despondency  or  the 
champions  of  orthodoxy  may  say  or  feel,  every 
individual  who  has  the  least  spark  of  spirituality 
alive  in  him  must  feel  that  this  spiritual  fellowshii:) 
that  wS  have  enjoyed  for  the  last  several  days 
within  the  precincts  of  this  noble  hall  can  not  but  be 
productive  of  much  that  leads  toward  the  establish- 
ment of  universal  peace  and  good-will  among  men 
and  nations  of  the  world. 

"To  us  of  the  Brahmo-Somaj  this  happy  consum- 
mation, however  partial  and  imperfect  it  maybe  for 
the  time  being,  is  nothing  short  of  a  sure  foretaste 


142  would' S   llELIGIOUS   CONGRESSES. 

of  the  realization  of  the  principle  of  the  harmony  of 
prophets.  In  politics  and  in  national  government 
it  is  now  an  established  fact  that  in  future  countries 
and  continents  on  the  surface  of  the  earth  will  be 
governed,  not  by  mighty  monarchies  or  aristocratic 
autocracies,  but  by  the  system  of  universal  federa- 
tion. The  history  of  political  progress  in  your  own 
country  stands  in  noble  evidence  of  my  statement; 
and  I  am  one  of  those  who  strongly  believe  that  at 
some  future  time  every  country  will  be  governed 
by  itself  as  an  independent  unit,  though  in  some 
respects  may  be  dependent  on  some  brother  power 
or  sister  kingdom.  What  is  true  in  politics  will 
also  be  true  in  religion;  and  nations  will  recognize 
and  realize  tlie  truths  taught  by  the  universal  family 
of  the  sainted  prophets  of  the  world. 

"In  the  fourth  place,  we  believe  that  the  religion 
of  the  Brahmo-Somaj  is  a  dispensation  of  this  age; 
it  is  a  message  of  unity  and  harmony,  of  universal 
amity  and  unification,  proclaimed  from  above.  We 
do  not  believe  "in  the  revelation  of  books  and  men, 
of  histories  and  historical  records.  We  believe  in 
the  infallible  revelation  of  the  Spirit  —  in  the  mes- 
sage that  comes  to  man  by  the  touch  of  the  human 
spirit  with  the  supreme  Spirit.  And  can  \?e  even 
for  a  moment  ever  imagine  that  the  Spirit  of  God 
has  ceased  to  work  in  our  midst?  No,  we  can  n(  t. 
Even  to-day  God  communicates  his  Avill  to  mankind 
as  truly  and  as  really  as  he  did  in  the  days  of  Christ 
or  Moses,  Mohammed  or  Buddha. 

"The  disj)ensations  of  the  world  are  not  isolated 
units  of  truth,  but,  viewed  as  a  whole,  and  followed 


A   RELIGIOUS   SYMPOSIUM.  143 

out  from  the  earliest  to  the  latest  in  their  historical 
sequence,  tiiey  form  a  continuous  chain,  and  each 
dispensation  is  only  a  link  in  this  chain.  It  is  our 
bounden  duty  to  read  the  message  of  each  dispensa- 
tion in  the  light  that  comes  from  above,  and  not 
according  to  the  dead  letter  that  might  have  been 
recorded  in  the  past.  The  interpretation  of  letters 
and  words,  of  books  and  chapters,  is  a  drag  behind 
on  the  workings  of  the  Spirit.  Truly  hath  it  been 
said  that  the  letter  killetli.  Therefore,  brethren, 
let  us  seek  the  guidance  of  the  Spirit,  and  interpret 
the  message  of  the  supreme  Spirit  by  the  help  of  his 
holy  Spirit. 

"TIjus  the  Brahmo-Somaj  seeks  to  Hiiiduize 
Hinduism,  Mohammedanize  Mohammedanism,  and 
Christianize  Christianity.  And  whatever  the  cham- 
pions of  the  old  Christian  orthodoxy  may  say  to  the 
contrary,  mere  doctrine,  mere  dogma  can  never  give 
life  to  any  country  or  community.  We  are  ready 
and  most  willing  to  receive  the  truths  of  the  religion 
of  Christ  as  truly  as  the  truths  of  the  religions  of 
other  prophets,  but  we  shall  receive  these  from  the 
life  and  teachings  of  Christ  himself,  and  not  through 
the  medium  of  any  church  or  the  so-called  mis- 
sionary <5f  Christ.  If  Christian  missionaries  have  in 
them  the  meekness  and  humility  and  tlie  earnest- 
ness of  purpose  that  Christ  lived  in  his  own  life, 
and  so  pathetically  exemplified  in  his  glorious  death 
on  the  cross,  let  our  missionary  friends  show  it  in 
their  lives. 

"We  are  wearied  of  hearing  the  dogmas  of  Chris- 
tendom reiterated  from   Sunday  to   Sunday  from 


144  world's  religious  congresses. 

hundreds  of  pulpits  in  India,  and  evangelists  and 
revivalists  of  the  type  of  Doctor  Pentecost,  who  go 
to  our  country  to  sing  to  the  same  tune,  only  add 
to  the  chaos  and  confusion  presented  to  the  natives 
of  India  by  the  dry  and  cold  lives  of  hundreds  and 
thousands  of  his  Christian  brethren.  They  come  to 
India  on  a  brief  sojourn,  pass  through  the  country 
like  birds  of  passage,  moving  at  a  whirlwind  speed, 
surrounded  by  Christian  fanatics  and  dogmatists; 
and  to  us  it  is  no  matter  of  wonder  that  they  do  not 
see  any  good,  or  having  seen  it  do  not  recognize  it, 
in  any  of  the  ancient  or  modern  religious  systems 
of  India.  Mere  rhetoric  is  no  reason,  nor  is  abuse 
an  argument,  unless  it  be  the  argument  of  a  want  of 
common  sense.  And  we  are  not  disposed  to  quarrel 
with  any  people  if  they  are  inclined  to  indulge  in 
these  two  instruments  generally  used  by  those  w^ho 
have  no  truth  on  their  side.  For  these  our  only 
feeling  is  a  feeling  of  pity  —  unqualified,  unmodi- 
fied, earnest  pity  —  and  we  are  ready  to  ask  God  to 
forgive  them,  for  they  know  not  what  they  say. 

''The  fifth  ideal  of  the  Brahmo-Somaj  is  the  ideal 
of  the  motherhood  of  God.  I  do  not  possess  the 
powers,  nor  have  I  the  time  to  dwell  at  length  on 
this  most  sublime  ideal  of  the  church  of  Indian 
Theism.  The  world  has  heard  of  God  as  the  almighty 
creator  of  the  universe,  as  the  omnipotent  sovereign 
that  rules  the  entire  creation,  as  the  protector,  the 
saviour  and  the  judge  of  the  human  race;  as  the 
supreme  being,  vivifying  and  enlivening  the  whole 
of  the  sentient  and  insentient  nature. 

"  We  humbly  believe  that  the  world  has  yet  to 


A   RELIGIOUS   SYMPOSIUM.  145 

understand  and  realize,  as  it  never  has  in  the  past, 
the  tender  and  loving  relationship  that  exists  be- 
tween mankind  and  their  su^jreme,  universal,  divine 
mother.  Oh,  what  a  world  of  thought  and  feeling 
is  centered  in  that  one  monosyllabic  word  ma,  whicli 
in  my  language  is  indicative  of  the  English  word 
mother.  Words  can  not  describe,  hearts  can  not 
conceive  of  the  tender  and  self-sacrificing  love  of  a 
human  mother.  Of  all  human  relations  the  relation 
of  mother  to  her  children  is  the  most  sacred  and 
elevating  relation.  And  yet  our  frail  and  fickle 
human  mother  is  nothing  in  comparison  with  the 
divine  mother  of  the  entire  humanity,  who  is  the 
primal  source  of  all  love,  of  all  mercy  and  all  purity. 
Let  us,  therefore,  realize  that  God  is  our  mother, 
the  mother  of  mankind,  irrespective  of  the  country 
or  the  clime  in  which  men  and  women  may  be  born. 
The  deeper  the  realization  of  the  motherhood  of 
God  the  greater  will  be  the  strength  and  intensity 
of  our  ideas  of  the  brotherhood  of  man  and  th^ 
sisterhood  of  woman.  Once  we  see  and  feel  that 
God  is  our  mother,  all  the  intricate  problems  of 
theology,  all  the  puzzling  quibbles  of  church  gov- 
ernment, all  the  quarrels  and  wranglings  of  the 
so-called  religious  world  will  be  solved  and  settled. 
We  of  the  Brahmo-Somaj  family  liold  that  a  vivid 
realization  of  the  motherhood  of  God  is  the  only 
solution  of  the  intricate  problems  and  differences 
in  the  religious  world. 

"May  the  universal  mother  grant  us  all  her  bless- 
ings to  understand  and  appreciate  her  sweet  rela- 
tionship to  the  vast  family  of  mankind.     Let  us 

lO 


146 


ai)proach  her  footstool  in  the  spirit  of  lier  humble 
and  obedient  children." 

One  js  inclined  to  speculate  as  to  the  origin  and 
real  force  of  this  conception  of  the  divine  mother- 
hood, as  to  how  far  it  is  an  appeal  in  behalf  of  di- 
vine attributes  heretofore  undervalue  I  in  the  relig- 
ious experiences  of  the  Hindus,  or  as  to  how  far  it 
may  be  an  aspiration  after  the  realization  of  what 
has  been  known  to  Christians  as  the  Spiritual  Mother; 
that  is,  heaven  and  the  church,  through  which  the 
Lord  mediates  his  love  and  nurture  to  the  feebleness 
of  his  children.  The  confidence  expressed  tlia  t  the 
realization  of  the  divine  motherhood  would  resolve 
conflicts  and  bring  in  universal  charity  would  indicate 
a  faith  in  what  all  Christians  have  believed  in,  an  1  too 
often  sought  to  realize  in  human  ecclesiastical  orders 
in  the  name  of  God,  when  the  divine  of  the  Lord 
was  not  in  them.  In  that  case  this  ideal  of  the 
Brahmo-Somaj  is  simply  faith  in  a  universal  church 
from  the  triumph  sometime  of  the  universal  love  of 
God.  And  it  is  at  least  evident  that  the  plan  of 
procedure,  as  Mr.  Nagarkar  says,  "to  Hinduize 
Hinduism,  to  Christianize  Christianity,"  or  in  other 
words  to  make  the  subjects  of  any  religion  more 
faithful  to  its  fundamental  truths,  is  a  witness  to 
their  belief  that  religious  life  and  faith  are  from 
God  alone;  and  being  genuine  from  him,  will  make 
all  worshipers  one  in  him.  This  recalls  the  teach- 
ing of  Swedenborg  concerning  the  universal  church 
of  the  Lord,  that  "the  Lord's  church  is  neither 
here   nor  there,  but  is  everywhere,    both    within 


A   RELIGIOUS   SYMPOSIUM.  147 

those  kingdoms  where  the  church  is  and  outside  of 
the  same,  wlierever  men  lead  a  life  according  to  the 
precepts  of  charity;"  and  that  all  in  the  whole  world 
who  are  in  love  to  the  Lord,  and  charity  toward 
the  neighbor,  are  really  one  universal  communion  or 
church,  "conjoined  with  the  Lord's  kingdom  in  the 
heavens,  and  thus  conjoined  with  the  Lord  himself." 
Though  he  taught  that  of  this  universal  church, 
which  is  as  one  grand  man  in  the  Lord's  sight,  the 
church  where  the  Word  is  known  and  loved,  is  as 
the  heart  and  lungs;  and  that  when  the  Lord  would 
revive  and  restore  the  health  of  the  chui^ch  uni- 
versal, and  institute  a  new  dispensation,  he  does  so 
by  opening  revelation  and  life  afresh  where  the 
Word  is,  and  that  he  has  done  so  even  at  this  day 
in  Christendom.  It  is  obvious,  at  least,  that  some- 
thing has  occurred  to  open  the  minds  of  all  profess 
ors  of  religion,  and  that  influences  are  operative 
which  are  not  very  well  understood,  but  which 
incite  to  a  more  free  and  tolerant,  not  to  say  char- 
itable and  loving,  search  for  fundamental  principles. 
We  may,  therefore,  close  this  general  comparison 
with  the  writer's  presentation  of  this  position,  on 
the  last  day  of  the  parliament,  in  a  paiDer  on  ' '  Swe- 
denborg  and  the  Harmony  of  Religion." 

THE  NEW   CHRISTIAN    CHURCH. 

"Before  the  closing  of  this  grand  historic  assem- 
bly, with  its  witness  to  the  worth  of  every  form  of 
faith  by  which  men  worship  God  and  seek  com- 
munion with  him,  one  word  more  needs  be  spoken, 
one  more  testimony  defined,  one  more  hope  recorded. 


148  world's  religious  congrp:sses. 

"Every  voice  has  witnessed  to  the  recognition  of 
a  new  age.  An  age  of  inquiry,  expectation,  and 
experiment  has  dawned.  New  inventions  are  stir- 
ring men's  hearts,  new  ideals  inspire  their  arts,  new 
physical  achievements  beckon  them  on  to  one  mar- 
velous mastery  after  another  of  the  universe.  And 
now  we  see  that  the  new  freedom  of  '  willing  and 
thinking'  has  entered  the  realm  of  religion,  and 
the  faiths  of  the  world  are  summoned  to  declare 
and  compare  not  only  the  formulas  of  the  past,  but 
the  movements  of  the  present  and  the  forecasts  of 
the  future. 

"One  religious  teacher,  who  explicitly  heralded 
the  new  age  before  yet  men  had  dreamed  of  its 
possibility,  and  referred  its  causes  to  great  move- 
ments in  the  centers  of  influx  in  the  spiritual  world, 
and  described  it  as  incidental  to  great  purposes  in 
the  providence  of  God,  needs  to  be  named  from  this 
platform  —  one  who  ranks  with  prophets  and  seers 
rather  than  with  inquirers  and  speculators;  a  reve- 
lator  rather  than  a  preacher  and  interpreter;  one 
whose  exalted  personal  character  and  transcendent 
learning  are  eclipsed  in  the  fruits  of  his  mission  as 
a  herald  of  a  new  dispensation  in  religion,  as  the 
revealer  of  heavenly  arcana,  and  'restorer  of  the 
foundations  of  many  generations ' ;  who,  ignored  by 
his  own  generation,  and  assaulted  by  its  successor, 
is  honored  and  respected  in  the  present,  and  awaits 
the  thoughtful  study  which  the  exxmnsion  and  cul- 
mination of  the  truth  and  the  organic  course  of 
events  will  bring  with  to-morrow;  '  the  permeating 
and  formative  influence '  of  whose  teachings  in  the 


A   RELIGIOUS   SYMPOSIUM.  149 

religious  belief  and  life  of  to-day  in  Christendom  is 
commonly  admitted;  who  subscribed  with  his  name 
on  the  last  of  his  Latin  quartos  —  Emanuel  Sweden- 
borg,  '  servant  of  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ.'  " 

The  address  then  proceeded  to  set  forth  Sweden- 
borg's  claim  of  seership,  his  account  of  a  last  judg- 
ment accomplished  in  the  spiritual  world,  and  of 
the  influences  which  would  descend  from  new 
sources  of  influx  in  that  world  to  bring  in  a  new 
dispensation  of  the  church  among  men,  and  that 
this  new  dispensation  is  inaugurated  and  defined 
among  men  by  the  revelation  of  the  spiritual  eense 
and  divine  meaning  of  the  sacred  Scriptures,  and 
that  the  Lord  by  this  means  makes  his  second  ad- 
vent, which  is  spiritual  and  universal. 

' '  The  Christian  world  is  incredulous  of  such  an 
event,  and  for  the  most  part  heedless  of  its 
announcement ;  but  that  does  not  much  signify, 
except  as  it  makes  one  with  the  whole  course  of  his- 
tory as  to  the  reception  of  divine  announcements. 
What  prophet  was  ever  welcomed  until  the  event 
had  proved  his  message  ?  The  question  is  not 
whethe^  it  meets  the  exi)ectation  of  men;  not 
whether  it  is  what  human  prudence  would  forecast; 
but  whether  it  reveals  and  meets  the  needs  and 
necessities  of  the  nations  of  the  earth.  '  My  thoughts 
are  not  your  thoughts,  saith  the  Lord,  neither  are 
your  ways  my  ways.'  The  great  movements  of 
divine  providence  are  never  what  men  anticipate, 
but  they  always  provide  what  men  need.  And  the 
appeal  to  the   Parliament  of   Religions  in  behalf 


150  world's  religious  congresses. 

of  the  revelation  announced  from  heaven  is  in  its 
ability  to  prove  its  divinity  by  outreaching  abun- 
dantly all  human  forecast  whatsoever.  Does  it 
throw  its  light  over  the  past  and  into  the  present, 
and  project  its  promise  into  the  future  ?  Does  it 
illuminate  and  unify  history,  elucidate  the  conflict- 
ing movements  of  to-day,  and  explain  the  hopes 
and  yearnings  of  the  heart  in  every  age  and  clime  ? 

"There  is  not  time  at  this  hour  for  exposition 
and  illustration,  only  to  indicate  the  catholicity  of 
Swedenborg's  teachings  in  their  spirit,  scope,  and 
purpose.  There  is  one  God  and  one  church.  As 
God  is  one,  the  human  race,  in  the  complex  move- 
ments of  its  growth  and  history,  is  before  him  as  one 
greatest  man.  It  has  had  its  ages  in  their  order,  cor- 
responding to  infancy,  childhood,  youth,  and  man- 
hood in  the  individual.  As  the  one  God  is  the 
Father  of  all,  he  has  witnessed  himself  in  every  age 
according  to  its  state  and  necessities.  The  divine 
care  has  not  been  confined  to  one  line  of  human 
descent,  nor  the  revelation  of  God's  will  to  one  set 
of  miraculously  given  Scriptures. 

"The  great  religions  of  the  world  have  their  origin 
in  that  same  Word  or  mind  of  God  which  wrote  itself 
through  Hebrew  law-giver  and  prophet  and  became 
incarnate  in  Jesus  Christ.  He,  as  '  the  Word  which 
was  in  the  beginning  with  God,  and  was  God,'  was 
the  light  of  every  age  in  the  spiritual  development 
of  mankind,  preserving  and  carrying  over  the  life 
of  each  into  the  several  streams  of  tradition  in  the 
religions  of  men,  conserving  and  embodying  all  in 
the  Hebrew   Scriptures,   fulfilling  that  in  his  own 


A   RELIGIOUS    SYMPOSIUM.  151 

person,  and  now  opening  his  divine  mind  in  all  that 
Scripture,  the  religions  of  the  world  are  to  be 
restored  to  unity,  iDurified  and  jDerfected  in  him. 

''Nor  is  this  with  Swedenborg  the  liberal  sentiment 
of  good-will  and  the  enthusiasm  of  hope,  but  the 
discovery  of  divine  fact  and  the  rational  insight  of 
spiritual  understanding.  He  has  shown  that  the 
sacred  Scriptures  are  written  according  to  the  cor- 
respondence of.  natural  with  spiritual  things,  and 
that  they  contain  an  internal  spiritual  sense  treat- 
ing of  the  x^rovidence  of  God  in  the  dispensations  of 
the  church,  and  of  the  regeneration  and  sxDiritual 
life  of  the  soul.  Before  Abraham  there  was  the 
church  of  Noah,  and  before  the  word  of  Moses 
there  was  an  ancient  word,  written  in  allegory  and 
correspondences,  which  the  ancients  understood  and 
loved,  but  in  x)rocess  of  time  turned  into  magic  and 
idolatry.  The  ancient  church  scattered  into  Egypt 
and  Asia,  carried  fragments  of  that  ancient  word, 
and  preserved  something  of  its  rex)resentatives  and 
allegories  in  scriptures  and  mythologies,  from  which 
have  come  the  myths  and  fables  of  the  oriental 
religions,  modified  according  to  nations  and  peox^les, 
and  revived  from  time  to  time  in  the  teachings  of 
leaders  and  prophets. 

"From  the  same  ancient  word  Moses  derived, 
under  divine  direction,  the  early  chapters  of  Gene- 
sis, and  to  this  in  the  order  of  providence  was 
added  the  law  and  the  x^rophets,  the  history  of  the 
incarnation,  and  the  prophecy  of  a  final  kingdom  of 
God,  all  so  written  as  to  contain  an  internal  sx)irit- 
ual  sense,  corresx^onding  with  the  letter,  but  dis- 


152  world's   RELIGiaUS   CONGRESSES. 

tinct  from  it,  as  the  soul  corresponds  with  the  body 
and  is  distinct  and  transcends  it.  It  is  the  opening 
of  this  internal  sense  in  all  the  holy  Scriptures,  and 
not  any  addition  to  their  letter,  which  constitutes 
the  new  and  needed  revelation  of  our  day.  The 
science  of  correspondences  is  the  key  which  unlocks 
the  Scriptures  and  discloses  their  internal  contents. 
The  same  key  opens  the  Scriptures  of  the  Orient  and 
traces  them  back  to  their  source  in  primitive 
revelation. 

"  If  it  shows  that  their  myths  and  representatives 
have  been  misunderstood,  misrepresented,  and  mis- 
applied, it  shows  also  that  the  Hebrew  and  Christian 
Scriptures  have  been  likewise  perverted  and  falsified. 
It  is  that  very  fact  which  necessitates  the  revelation 
of  their  internal  meaning,  in  which  resides  their 
divine  inspiration  and  the  life  of  rational  under- 
standing for  the  separation  of  truth  from  error. 
The  same  rational  light  and  science  of  interpreta- 
tion separates  the  great  primitive  truths  from  the 
corrupting  speculations  and  traditions  in  all  the 
ancient  religions,  and  furnishes  the  key  to  unlock 
the  myths  and  symbols  in  ancient  Scriptures  and 
worship. 

"  If  Swedenborg  reveals  errors  and  superstitions 
in  the  religions  out  of  Christendom,  so  does  he  also 
show  that  the  current  Christian  faith  and  worship 
is  largely  the  invention  of  men  and  falsifying  to  the 
Christian's  Bible.  If  he  promises  and  shows  true 
faith  and  life  to  the  Christian  from  the  Scriptures, 
so  does  he  also  to  the  Gentiles  in  leading  them  back 
to  primitive  revelation  and  showing  them  the  mean- 


A    RELIGIOUS   SYMPOSIUM.  168 

ing  of  their  own  aspirations  for  the  light  of  life.  If 
he  sets  the  Hebrew  and  Christian  word  above  all 
other  sacred  Scripture,  it  is  because  it  brings,  as  now 
opened  in  its  spiritual  depths,  the  divine  sanction  to 
all  the  rest,  and  gathers  their  strains  into  its  sub- 
lime symphony  of  revelation. 

' '  So  much  for  the  indication  of  what  Swedenborg 
does  for  catholic  enlightenment  in  spiritual  wisdom. 
As  for  salvation,  he  teaches  that  God  has  provided 
with  every  nation  a  witness  of  himself  and  means  of 
eternal  life.  He  is  present  by  his  Spirit  with  all. 
He  gives  the  good  of  his  love,  which  is  life,  inter- 
nally and  impartially  to  all.  All  know  that  there  is 
a  God,  and  that  he  is  to  be  loved  and  obeyed;  that 
there  is  a  life  after  death,  and  that  there  are  evils 
which  are  to  be  shunned  as  sins  against  God.  So 
far  as  any  one  so  believes  and  so  lives  from  a  princi- 
ple of  religion  he  receives  eternal  life  in  his  soul, 
and  after  death  instruction  and  perfection  according 
to  the  sincerity  of  his  life. 

"No  teaching  could  be  more  catholic  than  this, 
showing  that,  '  Whosoever  in  any  nation  feareth 
God  and  worketh  righteousness  is  accepted  of  him.' 
If  he  sets  forth  Jesus  Christ  as  the  only  wise  God, 
in  whom  is  the  fullness  of  the  Godhead,  it  is  Christ 
glorified  and  realizing  to  the  mind  the  infinite  and 
eternal  Lover  and  Thinker  and  Doer,  a  real  and  per- 
sonal God,  our  Father  and  Saviour.  If  he  summons 
all  proi)hets  and  teachers  to  bring  their  honor  and 
glory  unto  him,  it  is  not  as  to  a  conquering  rival, 
but  as  to  their  inspiring  life,  whose  word  they  have 
spoken  and  whose  work  they  have  wrought.     If  he 


154  world's  religious  congresses. 

brings  all  good  spirits  in  the  other  life  to  the 
acknowledgment  of  the  glorified  Christ  as  the  only 
God,  it  is  because  they  have  in  heart  and  essential 
faith  believed  in  him  and  lived  for  him,  in  living 
according  to  the  precepts  of  their  religion.  He  calls 
him  a  Christian  who  lives  as  a  Christian;  and  he 
lives  as  a  Christian  who  looks  to  the  one  God  and 
does  what  he  teaches,  as  he  is  able  to  know  it.  If 
he  denies  reincarnation,  so  also  does  he  deny  sleep 
in  the  grave  and  the  resurrection  of  the  material 
body.  If  he  teaches  the  necessity  of  regeneration 
and  union  with  God,  so  also  does  he  show  that  the 
subjugation  and  quiescence  of  self  is  the  true  '  Nir- 
vana,' opening  consciousness  to  the  divine  life,  and 
conferring  the  peace  of  harmony  with  God.  If  he 
t  ^aches  that  man  needs  the  Spirit  of  God  for  the 
subjugation  of  self,  he  teaches  that  this  Sx)irit  is 
freely  imparted  to  whosoever  will  look  to  the  Lord 
and  shun  selfishness  as  sin.  If  he  teaches,  thus, 
that  faith  is  necessary  to  salvation,  he  teaches  that 
faith  alone  is  not  sufficient,  but  faith  which  worketh 
by  love.  If  he  denies  that  salvation  is  of  favor  or 
immediate  mercy,  and  affirms  that  it  is  v  tal  and  the 
effect  .of  righteousness,  be  also  teaches  that  the 
divine  righteousness  is  imparted  vitally  to  him  who 
seeks  it  first  and  above  all;  and  if  he  denies  that 
several  probations  on  earth  are  necessary  to  the 
working  out  of  the  issues  of  righteousness,  it  is 
because  man  enters  a  spiritual  world  after  death  in 
a  spiritual  body  and  personality,  and  in  an  environ- 
ment in  which  his  ruling  love  is  developed,  his 
ignorance  enlightened,  his  imperfections  removed, 


A   RELIGIOUS   vSYMPOSIUM.  155 

his  good  beginnings  perfected,  until  lie  is  ready  to 
be  incorporated  in  the  Grand  Man  of  heaven,  to 
receive  and  functionate  his  measure  of  the  divine 
life  and  participate  in  the  divine  joy.  And  so  I 
might  go  on. 

"  My  purpose  is  accomplished  if  I  have  won  your 
respect,  and  interest  in  the  teachings  of  this  great 
ai30stle,  who,  chiiming  to  be  called  of  the  Lord  to 
ojjen  the  Scriptures,  presents  a  harmony  of  truths 
that  would  gather  into  its  embrace  all  that  is  of 
value  in  every  religion,  and  open  out  into  a  career 
ot*  illimitable  spiritual  progress. 

"The  most  unimpassioned  of  men,  perhaps  be- 
cause he  so  well  understood  that  his  mission  was 
not  his  own  but  the  concern  of  Him  who  builds 
through  the  ages,  Swedenborg  wrote  and  published. 
The  result  is  a  library  that  calmly  awaits  the  truth- 
seekers.  If  the  religions  of  the  world  become 
disciples  there,  it  will  not  be  proselytism  that 
will  take  them  there,  but  the  organic  course  of 
events  in  that  i)rovidence  which  works  on,  silent 
but  mighty,  like  the  forces  that  poise  x>lanets  and 
gravitate  among  the  stars. 

"Present  history  shows  the  effect  of  unsuspected 
causes.  The  Parliament  of  Religions  is  itself  a  tes- 
timony to  unseen  spiritual  causes,  and  should  at 
least  incline  to  belief  in  Swedenborg' s  testimony, 
that  a  way  is  oi^en,  both  in  the  spiritual  world  and 
on  earth,  for  a  universal  church  in  the  faith  of  one 
visible  God  in  whom  is  tlie  Invisible,  imxjarting 
eternal  life  and  enlightenment  to  all  from  every 
nation  who  believe  in  him  and  work  righteousness." 


CHAPTER   ly. 

A   RELIGIOUS   SYMPOSIUM  —  CONTINUED. 

HAVING  now  passed  in  review  some  of  the 
best  things  tlie  representatives  of  the  several 
religions  had  to  declare  for  themselves,  and 
to  prophesy  for  men,  we  may  compare  the  positive 
declarations  of    various  speakers  upon  the  great 
subjects  of  religious  thought. 

Central  in  every  religion  is  the  idea  of  God,  for 
God  to  every  man  is  what  he  regards  as  best  and 
highest,  what  gives  him  the  law  of  his  being,  and 
what  he  inwardly  obeys  in  his  doing.  We  begin, 
therefore,  with  the  idea  of  God  as  interpreted  by 
students  of  the  ancient  religions  and  by  the  teachers 
of  the  living  religions  represented  in  the  World's 
Religious  Congress. 

GOD. 

The  first  thing  to  remark  is  the  universality  of 
the  idea  that  there  is  a  God  and  that  he  is  one.  As 
Prince  Momolu  Massaquoi,  of  the  Yey  Nation  in 
West  Africa,  a  Christian,  and  educated  in  this  coun- 
try, but  just  returned  from  his  own  people,  who  are 
pagans,  said  in  speaking  of  their  religion,  "They 
worship  the  same  God  that  you  do.  The  mission- 
aries see  them  bow  down  before  some  natural  object 
and  report  that  they  are  idolaters.    But  they  do  not 

(156) 


A   RELIGIOUS   SYMPOSIUM.  157 

worship)  such  things.  They  know  that  God  is  the 
creator  of  the  universe,  and  they  speak  to  him 
when  they  bow  before  what  he  has  made,  and  think 
of  him  as  a  great  spirit  in  the  man  form."  And 
Swami  Yivekananda,  in  speaking  of  the  worship 
of  the  simple  in  India,  said  their  idols  are  only 
symbols  and  reminders,  and  called  attention  to  the 
fact  that  Christians,  in  common  with  all  men, 
sought  to  make  their  spiritual  ideas  sensual  by  some 
symbolic  object  of  sight.  It  is  dem  iistrabL^  that 
all  idolatry  originated  in  this  tendency,  confirmed 
by  evils  with  the  mass,  but  never  obliterating  the 
idea  of  one  God  so  completely  as  to  hide  it  from 
the  innocent  and  good.  And  if  this  be  true,  it 
admonishes  us  to  look  behind  the  doctrinal  develop- 
ments of  every  religion  for  the  great  primitive  con- 
cept that  underlies  them  and  coni^titutes  for  the  good 
"the  secret  of  the  Lord  with  them  that  fear  him." 
Prof.  N.  Yallentine,  in  his  paper  on  "The  Har- 
monies and  Distinctions  in  the  Theistic  Teachings 
of  the  Various  Historic  Faiths,"  remarks  that  "at 
the  outset  we  need  to  remind  ourselves  of  the  exceed- 
ing difiiculty  of  the  comparison  or  of  precise  and 
firm  classification  of  the  theistic  faiths  of  mankind. 
They  are  all  —  at  least  all  the  ethnic  faiths  —  devel- 
opments or  evolutions,  having  undergone  various 
and  immense  changes.  Their  evolutions  amount  to 
revolutions  in  some  cases.  They  are  not  perma- 
nently marked  by  the  same  features,  and  will  not 
admit  the  same  predicates  at  diiferent  times.  Some 
are  found  to  diifer  more  from  themselves  in  their 
history  than  from  one  another." 


158 

He  linds,  however,  at  the  basis  of  them  all  the 
idea  of  God,  unless  Buddhism  be  excepted,  and  the 
absence  of  positive  tbeistic  teaching  in  this  system 
he  regards  as  negative  failure  to  emphasize  the  idea, 
which  certainly  is  not  denied.  "But,"  he  adds, 
"if  these  various  religions  be  comi3ared  in  the  light 
of  a  second  principle  in  theistic  teaching  —  that  of 
monotheism  —  it  is  startling  to  find  how  terribly  the 
idea  of  God,  whose  existence  is  so  unanimously 
owned,  has  been  misconceived  and  distorted.  For 
taking  the  historic  faiths  in  their  fully  developed 
form,  only  two,  Christianity  and  Mohammedanism, 
present  a  xiure  and  maintained  monotheism.  Zoro- 
astrianism  can  not  be  counted  in  here;  though  at 
first  its  Ahriman,  or  evil  spirit,  was  not  conceived  of 
as  a  God,  it  afterward  lajjsed  into  theological  dual- 
ism and  practical  polytheism.  All  the  rest  are  pre- 
vailingly and  discordantly  polytheistic.  They  move 
off  into  endless  multiplicity  of  divinities  and  gro- 
tesque degradations  of  their  character.  This  fact 
does  not  speak  well  for  the  ability  of  the  human 
mind,  without  supernatural  help,  to  formulate  and 
maintain  the  necessary  idea  of  God  worthily. 

"This  dark  and  regretful  phenomenon  is,  however, 
much  relieved  by  several  modifying  facts.  One  is 
that  the  search-lights  of  history  and  philology 
reveal  for  the  principal  historic  faiths,  back  of  their 
stages  and  conditions  of  luxuriantly  developed 
polytheism,  the  existence  of  an  early,  or  jiossibly 
though  not  certainly  primitive,  monotheism.  This 
point,  I  know,  is  strongly  contested,  especially  by 
many  whose  views  are  determined  by  acceptance  of 


A   RELIGIOUS   SYMPOSIUM.  159 

the  evolutionist  hypothesis  of  the  derivative  origin 
of  the  liuman  race;  but  it  seems  to  me  that  the 
evidence,  as  made  clear  through  the  true  historical 
method  of  investigation,  is  decisive  for  monotheism 
as  the  earliest  known  form  of  theistic  conception  in 
the  religions  of  Egypt,  China,  India,  and  the  orig- 
inal Druidism,  as  well  as  of  the  two  faiths  .already 
classed  as  asserting  the  divine  unity. 

"Polytheisms  are  found  to  be  actual  growths. 
Tracing  them  back  they  become  simpler  and  simpler. 
'The  younger  the  polytheism  the  fewer  the  gods,' 
until  a  stage  is  reached  where  God  is  conceived  of 
as  one  alone  This  accords,  too,  as  has  been  well 
pointed  out,  with  the  psychological  genesis  of  ideas 
—  the  singular  number  preceding  the  plural,  the 
idea  of  a  god  preceding  the  idea  of  gods,  the  affir- 
mation 'There  is  a  God'  going  before  the  affirma- 
tion '  There  are  two  or  many  gods.' 

"Another  fact  of  belief  is  that  the  polytheisms 
have  not  held  their  fields  without  dissent  and  revolt. 
Over  against  the  tendency  of  depraved  humanity  to 
corrupt  the  idea  of  God  and  multiply  imaginary  and 
false  divinities,  there  are  forces  that  act  for  correction 
and  improvement.  The  human  soul  has  been  formed 
for  the  one  true  and  only  God.  Where  reason  is 
highly  developed  and  the  testing  powers  of  the 
intellect  and  conscience  are  earnestly  applied  to  the 
problems  of  existence  and  duty,  these  grotesque 
and  gross  polytheisms  f)rove  unsatisfactory." 

Passing  to  another  point  of  comparison,  the 
principle  of  jDersonality,  he  notes  that  ' '  under  this 


160  world's  religious  congresses. 

principle  the  religions  of  the  world  fall  into  two 
classes:  those  which  conceive  of  God  as  an  intelli- 
gent being,  acting  in  freedom,  and  those  that  con- 
ceive of  him  pantheistically  as  the  sum  of  nature  or 
the  impersonal  energy  or  soul  of  all  things.  In 
Christian  teaching  God  is  a  personal  being,  with  all 
the  attmbutes  or  predicates  that  enter  into  the  con- 
cept of  such  being.  In  the  Christian  Scriptures  of 
the  Old  and  New  Testaments  this  conception  is  never 
for  a  moment  lowered  or  obscured.  God,  though 
immanent  in  nature,  filling  it  with  his  presence  and 
power,  is  yet  its  creator  and  preserver,  keeping  it 
subject  to  his  will  and  purposes,  never  confounded 
nor  identified  with  it.  He  is  the  infinite,  absolute 
personality. 

' '  In  the  early  belief  of  Egypt,  of  China,  of  India, 
in  the  teaching  of  Zoroaster,  of  Celtic  Druidism,  of 
Assyrian  and  Babylonian  faith,  and  in  the  best 
intuition  of  the  Greek  and  Roman  philosophers, 
without  doubt  God  was  apprehended  as  a  personal 
God.  Indeed,  in  almost  the  whole  world's  religious 
thinking  this  element  of  true  theistic  concej^tion 
has  had  more  or  less  positive  recognition  and  main- 
tenance. It  seems  to  have  been  spontaneously  and 
necessarily  demanded  by  the  religious  sense  and  life. 

"The  human  feeling  of  helplessness  and  need 
called  for  a  God  who  could  hear  and  understand,  feel 
and  act.  And  whenever  thought  rose  beyond  the 
many  pseudo-gods  to  the  existence  of  the  one  true 
God  as  a  creator  and  ruler  of  the  world,  the  ten 
thousand  marks  of  order,  plan,  and  purpose  in  nat- 
ure speaking  to  men's  hearts  and  reason  led  up  to 


i  J  »i 


H.  DHARMAPALA, 

Buddhist,  Ceylon. 


A   RELIGIOUS   SYMPOSIUM.  161 

the  grand  truth  that  the  Maker  of  all  is  a  thinker 
and  both  knows  and  wills.  And  so  a  relation  of 
trust,  fellowship,  and  intercourse  was  found  and 
recognized.  None  of  the  real  feelings  of  worship, 
love,  devotion,  gratitude,  consecration,  could  live 
and  act  simply  in  the  presence  of  an  impersonal, 
unconscious,  fateful  energy  or  order  of  nature.  No 
consistent  hope  of  a  conscious  personal  future  life 
can  be  established  except  as  it  is  rooted  in  faith  in  a 
personal  God. 

"  And  yet  the  personality  of  God  has  often  been 
much  obscured  in  the  historic  faiths.  The  obscura- 
tion has  not  come  as  a  natural  and  spontaneous 
product  of  the  religious  impulse  or  consciousness, 
but  of  mystic  speculative  philosophies.  The  phe- 
nomenon presented  by  Spinozaism  and  later  panthe- 
isms, in  the  i^resence  of  Christianity,  was  substan- 
tially anticipated  again  and  again  ages  ago,  in  the 
midst  of  various  religious  faiths,  despite  their  own 
truer  visions  of  the  eternal  God.  As  we  understand 
it,  the  philosophy  of  religion  with  Hinduism,  the 
later  Confucianism,  developed  Parseeism  and  Druid- 
ism  is  substantially  pantheistic,  reducing  God  to 
impersonal  existence  or  the  conscious  factors  and 
forces  of  cosmic  order." 

The  important  points  here  are  these:  tliat  at  the 
root  of  all  the  historic  faiths  is  the  idea  that  there 
is  a  God  and  that  he  is  one  divine  person,  a  lover, 
and  thinker,  and  doer;  but  that  this  primitive  idea 
is  variously  obscured  by  the  sensuous  persuasions  on 
the  one  hand,  and  by  speculative  thinking  on  the 
11 


162 

other;  and  that  these  developments,  and  revolts, 
and  revivals,  at  different  periods  in  their  history, 
and  on  the  pai't  of  their  different  sects,  make  any 
simple  positive  statement  as  the  faith  of  any  one  of 
them  difficult. 

The  i:)revailing  ]3repossessation  on  the  part  of  Chris- 
tian scholars  who  contribute  papers  on  comparative 
theology  being  the  theory  of  progressive  evolution, 
too  much  importance  can  not  be  given  to  facts  like 
these  presented  by  Professor  Yallentine,  wliich 
directly  discredit  the  theory.  The  showing  of  one 
of  the  papers,  for  instance,  that  in  the  ancient 
Egyptian  religion  the  one  central  religious  notion 
was  the  nearness  of  the  divine,  and  that  in  the 
Babylonian-Assyrian,  on  the  other  hand,  the  cen- 
tral idea  was  the  sepg^rateness  and  transcendence  of 
the  divine,  with  the  argument  that  these  two  ele- 
mental truths  have  been  conveyed  from  Egypt  and 
Babylonia  to  the  nations  of  men,  favors  in  such 
form  the  evolutionary  leaning  of  thinkers.  But  it  is 
not  shown  that  the  less-emphasized  truth  was  absent 
from  the  religion  which  made  the  other  i^rominent; 
nor  is  it  necessary  to  conclude  that  either  Egypt  or 
Babylonia  exercised  any  more  than  a  motiifying 
effect  upon  other  religions,  which  together  with 
them  possessed  both  ideas  as  an  inheritance  from 
primitive  revelation. 

Belief  in  primitive  revelation  as  the  origin  of  the 
idea  of  God  was  not  prominent,  however,  though  it 
might  be  confirmed  by  most  of  the  facts  cited  in 
support  of  the  natural  development  of  the  idea  of 
God.     An  exception  to  the  rule  was  the  argument 


A   KELIGIOUS   SYMPOSIUM.  163 

of  the  Rev.  Maurice  Phillips  of  Madras,  India,  that 
the  primitive  Hindu  religion  was  from  primitive 
revelation. 

In  harmony  with  Professor  Vallentine,  quoted 
above,  he  contended  that  — 

"Two  things  are  evident.  That  the  higher  we 
push  our  inquiries  into  the  ancient  religion  of  India 
the  purer  and  simpler  we  find  the  CDUceiotion  of 
God,  and  that  in  proportion  as  we  come  down  the 
stream  of  time  the  more  corruj^t  and  complex  it 
becomes.  We  conclude,  therefore,  that  the  ancient 
Hindus  did  not  acquire  their  knowledge  of  the 
divine  attributes  and  functions  empirically,  for  in 
that  case  we  should  find  at  the  end  what  we  now 
find  at  the  beginning.  Hence  we  must  seek  for  a 
theory  that  will  account  alike  for  the  acquisition  of 
that  knowledge,  the  godlike  conception  of  Yaruna 
and  its  gradual  depravation  which  culminated  in 
Brahma. 

"And  what  theory  will  cover  these  facts  as  well 
as  the  doctrine  of  a  '  primitive  revelation '  ?  If  we 
admit  on  the  authority  of  the  Bible  that  God 
revealed  himself  originally  to  man,  the  knowledge 
of  the  divine  functions  and  attributes  possessed  by 
the  ancient  Hindus  would  be  a  reminiscence.  And 
if  we  admit,  on  both  the  authority  of  the  Bible  and 
consciousness,  the  sinful  tendency  of  human  nature 
which  makes  the  retention  of  divine  knowledge 
either  a  matter  of  difficulty  or  aversion,  it  is  easy  to 
conceive  that  the  idea  of  God  as  a  spiritual  personal 
being  would  gradually  recede  and  ultimately  disax^- 
pear  from  the  memory,  while  his  attributes  and 


164  world's  religious  congresses. 

functions  would  survive  like  broken  fragments  of  a 
once  united  whole." 

The  same  theory  will  explain  satisfactorily  the 
fact  that  ancient  tradition  of  the  true  God  in  Egypt 
should  take  on  rather  than  grow  out  of  the  natural 
characteristic  of  its  people,  and  the  same  primitive 
truth  receive  a  different  bent  and  emphasis  in  the 
Babylonian  mind.  And  this  alone  will  explain  the 
undeniable  fact  that,  in  proj^ortion  as  the  simple 
idea  of  a  heavenly  Father,  the  Creator  of  the  uni- ; 
verse,  is  revolved  in  sensuous  and  speculative 
thought  with  any  people  the  more  "corrupt  and 
complex  it  becomes."  Still,  as  remarked  before,  it 
is  not  entirely  lost,  and  is  from  time  to  time,  in  the 
history  of  every  faith,  grasped  and  asserted  anew  by 
some  one  "pure  in  heart"  who  "sees  God."  It 
would  be  interesting,  indeed,  as  showing  to  what 
the  idea  has  come,  to  set  side  by  side  the  answers  of 
the  several  faiths,  and  sects  even,  to  the  direct  ques- 
tion, "What  have  you  to  say  of  GodT'  It  is 
impossible  to  gather  more  than  general  answers 
from  the  discussions  before  the  parliament. 

Swami  Yivekananda,  the  Hindu  monk,  quoting  a 
Yedic  sage,  who  he  says  was  inspired  from  the 
throne  of  mercy,  and  proclaimed  in  words  of  hope 
and  consolation,  'I  have  found  the  Ancient  One,' 
thus  expounds  the  Hindu  faith  in  God:  "The 
Vedas  proclaim,  not  a  dreadful  combination  of 
unforgiving  laws,  not  an  endless  prison  of  cause  and 
effect,  but  that  at  the  head  of  all  these  laws,  in 
and  through  every  particle  of  matter  and  force, 
stands  one    '  through    whose    command   the   wind 


A    RELIGIOUS   SYMPOSIUM.  165 

blows,  the  fire  burns,  the   clouds  rain,  and  death 
stalks  upon  the  earth.'     And  what  is  his  nature? 

''  He  is  everywhere,  the  pure  and  formless  one,  the 
almighty  and  the  all-merciful.  'Thou  art  our 
father,  thou  art  our  mother,  thou  art  our  beloved 
friend,  thou  art  the  source  of  all  strength.  Thou 
art  he  that  bearest  the  burdens  of  the  universe; 
helj)  me  bear  the  little  burden  of  this  life.'  Thus 
sang  the  Rishis  of  the  Veda.  And  how  to  worship 
him?  Through  love.  '  He  is  to  be  worshiped  as 
the  one  beloved,  dearer  tban  everything  in  this  and 
the  next  life.'  "  And  he  adds,  as  giving  definiteness 
to  this  idea,  that  the  Hindus  believe  Krishna  to  have 
been  "  Grod  incarnate  on  earth." 

As  a  Christian  estimate  of  the  Hindu  thought  of 
God  the  following  from  Rev.  R.  A.  Hume  may  be 
illustrative: 

' '  Both  Christian  and  Hindu  thought  recognize  an 
infinite  being  witli  whom  is  bound  up  man's 
rational  and  spiritual  life.  Both  magnify  the 
indwelling  of  this  infinite  being  in  every  part  of  the 
universe.  Both  teach  that  this  great  being  is  ever 
revealing  itself;  that  the  universe  is  a  unit,  and  that 
all  things  come  under  universal  laws  of  the  infinite. 

"To  Christianity  God  is  the  heavenly  Father, 
always  and  infinitely  good;  God  is  love. 

"  To  philosophical  Hinduism  man  is  an  emanation 
from  the  infinite,  which,  in  the  present  stage  of 
existence,  is  the  exact  result  of  this  emanation  in 
previous  stages  of  existence.  His  moral  sense  is  an 
illusion,  for  he  can  not  sin. 


166  WOELD'S   llELIGTOUS   CONGEESSES. 

^'  To  popular  Hinduism  man  is  partially  what  he  is 
to  philosophical  Hinduism,  determined  by  fate; 
partially  he  is  thought  of  as  a  created  being  more  or 
less  sinful,  dependent  on  God  for  favor  or  disfavor. 

'^To  Christianity  man  is  the  child  of  his  heavenly 
Father,  sinful  and  often  erring,  yet  longed  for  and 
sought  after  by  the  Father." 

In  a  remarkably  definite  and  explicit  paper  on 
"Zoroastrianism,"  by  Jinan ji  Jamshodji  Modi,  we 
are  told  of  the  idea  of  God  among  the  Parsees: 

^'Zoroastrianism,  or  Parseeism  —  by  whatever 
name  the  system  may  be  called  —  is  a  monotheistic 
form  of  religion.  It  believes  in  the  existence  of  one 
God,  whom  it  knows  under  the  names  of  Mazda, 
Ahura,  and  Ahura-Mazda,  the  last  form  being  one 
that  is  most  commonly  met  with  in  the  latter  writ- 
ings of  the  Avesta.  The  first  and  the  greatest  truth 
that  dawns  upon  the  mind  of  a  Zoroastrian  is  that 
the  great  and  the  infinite  universe,  of  which  he  is  an 
infinitesimally  small  i^art,  is  the  work  of  a  powerful 
hand  —  the  result  of  a  master-mind.  The  first  and 
the  greatest  conception  of  that  master-mind,  Ahura- 
Mazda,  is  that,  as  the  name  implies,  he  is  the  Omnis- 
cient Lord,  and  as  such  he  is  the  ruler  of  both  the 
material  and  immaterial  world,  the  corj^oreal  and 
the  incorporeal  world,  the  visible  and  the  invisible 
world.  The  regular  movements  of  the  sun  and  the 
stars,  the  periodical  waxing  and  waning  of  the  moon, 
the  regular  way  in  which  the  sun  and  the  clouds 
are  sustained,  the  regular  flow  of  waters  and  the 
gradual  growth  of  vegetation,  the  rapid  movements 


A   RELIGIOUS   SYMPOSIUM.  167 

of  the  winds  and  the  regular  succession  of  light  and 
darkness,  of  day  and  night,  with  their  accompani- 
ments of  sleep  and  wakefulness;  all  these  grand 
and  striking  phenomena  of  nature  point  to  and  bear 
ample  evidence  of  the  existence  of  an  almighty 
power,  who  is  not  only  the  creator  but  the  preserver 
of  this  great  universe,  who  has  not  only  launched 
that  universe  into  existence  with  a  .premeditated 
plan  of  completeness,  but  who,  with  the  controlling 
hand  of  a  father,  preserves  by  certain  fixed  laws 
harmony  and  order  here,  there,  and  everywhere. 

"As  Ahura-Mazda  is  the  ruler  of  the  physical 
world,  so  he  is  the  ruler  of  the  spiritual  world. 
His  distinguished  attributes  are  good  mind,  right- 
eousness, desirable  control,  piety,  perfection,  and 
immortality.  He  is  the  beneficent  Spirit  from  whom 
emanate  all  good  and  all  piety.  He  looks  into 
the  hearts  of  men,  and  sees  how  much  of  the 
good  and  of  the  piety  that  have  emanated  from 
him  has  made  its  home  there,  and  thus  rewards  the 
virtuous  and  punishes  the  vicious.  Of  course 
one  sees  at  times  in  the  plane  of  this  world  moral 
disorders  and  want  of  harmony,  but  then  the  pres- 
ent state  is  only  a  part,  and  that  a  very  small 
part,  of  his  scheme  of  moral  government.  As  the 
ruler  of  the  world,  Ahura-Mazda  hears  the  prayers 
of  the  ruled.  He  grants  the  prayers  of  those  who 
are  pious  in  thoughts,  pious  in  words,  and  j)ious  in 
deeds.  '  He  not  only  rewards  the  good,  but  punishes 
the  wicked.  All  that  is  created,  good  or  evil,  fort- 
une or  misfortune,  is  his  work.'  " 

He  combats  the  misunderstanding 'that  Zoroaster 


168  world's  religious  congresses. 

preaches  dualism.  Aliura-Mazda  is  supreme;  the 
good  and  evil  principles  which  contend  in  the  world 
and  in  man  are  under  him.  He  cites  in  explanation 
the  Christian  doctrine  of  the  devil  and  hell,  and 
continues:  "Consequently,  though  the  Almighty 
is  the  creator  of  all,  a  part  of  the  creation  is  said  to 
be  created  by  the  good  principle  and  a  part  by  the 
evil  principle.  Thus,  for  example,  the  heavenly 
bodies,  the  earth,  water,  fire,  horses,  dogs,  and  such 
other  objects  are  the  creation  of  the  good  principle, 
and  serpents,  ants,  locusts,  etc.,  are  the  creation  of 
the  evil  principle.  In  short,  those  things  that  con- 
duce to  the  greatest  good  of  the  greatest  number  of 
mankind  fall  under  the  category  of  the  creations  of 
the  good  principle,  and  those  that  lead  to  the  con- 
trary result,  under  that  of  the  creations  of  the  evil 
principle.  This  being  the  case,  it  is  incumbent 
upon  men  to  do  actions  that  would  support  the 
cause  of  the  good  principle  and  destroy  that  of  the 
evil  one.  Therefore,  the  cultivation  of  the  soil, 
the  rearing  of  the  domestic  animals,  etc.,  on  the 
one  hand,  and  the  destruction  of  wild  animals  and 
other  noxious  creatures  on  the  other,  are  considered 
meritorious  actions  by  the  Parsees. 

"As  there  are  two  primeval  principles  under 
Ahura-Mazda  that  produce  our  material  world,  so 
there  are  two  principles  inherent  in  the  nature  of 
man,  which  encourage  him  to  do  good  or  tempt  him 
to  do  evil.  One  asks  him  to  support  the  cause  of 
the  good  principle,  the  other  to  support  that  of  the 
evil  principle." 

The  idea  of  God  in  orthodox  Judaism,  according 


A   RELIGIOUS   SYMPOSIUM.  169 

to  Rabbi  Mendes,  is  '  ^  expressed  in  the  creeds  for- 
mulated by  Maimonides,  as  follows  : 

''We  believe  in  God  the  creator  of  all,  a  unity,  a 
spirit  who  never  assumed  corporeal  form,  eternal, 
and  he  alone  ought  to  be  worshiped. 

''We  unite  with  Christians  in  the  belief  that 
revelation  is  inspired.  We  unite  with  the  founder 
of  Christianity  that  not  one  jot  or  tittle  of  the  law 
should  be  changed.  Hence  we  do  not  accept  a  first- 
day  Sabbath,  etc.  ♦ 

"We  unite  in  believing  that  God  is  omniscient 
and  just,  good,  loving,  and  merciful. 

"  We  unite  in  the  belief  in  the  coming  Messiah. 

"We  unite  in  our  belief  in  immortality.  In 
these  Judaism  and  Christianity  agree." 

The  definitions  of  Rabbi  Wise,  less  specific  in 
statement,  are  explicit  as  giving  authority  of  reve- 
lation to  only  such  passages  in  the  Hebrew  Script- 
ures as  represent  God  to  have  spoken  of  himself, 
his  name,  or  his  attributes. 

"Judaism  is  the  complex  of  Israel's  religious 
sentiments  ratiocinated  to  conceptions  in  harmony 
with  its  Jehovistic  God-cognition. 

"These  conceptions  made  permanent  in  the  con- 
sciousness of  this  people  are  the  religious  knowl- 
edges which  form  the  substratum  to  the  theology  of 
Judaism.  The  Thorah  maintains  that  its  '  teaching 
and  canon'  are  divine.  Man's  knowledge  of  the 
true  and  the  good  comes  directly  to  human  reason 
and  conscience  (which  is  unconscious  reason)  from 
the  supreme  and  universal  reason,  the  absolutely 
true  and  good ;  or  it  comes  to  him  indirectly  from 


170  world's  religious  congresses. 

the  same  source  by  the  manifestations  of  nature, 
the  facts  of  history,  and  man's  power  of  induction. 
This  principle  is  in  conformity  with  the  second  po^t- 
ulate  of  theology,  and  its  extens^ion  in  harmony 
with  the  standard  of  reason. 

"All  knowledge  of  God  and  his  attributes,  the 
true  and  the  good,  came  to  man  by  successive  reve- 
kitions  of  the  indirect  kind  first,  which  we  may  call 
natural  revelation,  and  the  direct  kind  afterward, 
which  we  may  call^anscendental  revelation.  Both 
these  revelations  concerning  God  and  his  substantial 
attributes,  together  with  their  historical  genesis,  are 
recorded  in  the  Thorah  in  the  seven  holy  names  of 
God,  to  which  neither  prophet  nor  philosopher  in 
Israel  added  even  one,  and  all  of  which  constantly 
recur  in  all  Hebrew  literature. 

"What  we  call  the  God  of  revelation  is  actually 
intended  to  designate  God  as  made  known  in  the 
transcendental  revelations,  including  the  successive 
God-ideas  of  natural  revelation.  His  attributes  of 
relation  are  made  known  only  in  such  passages  of 
the  Thorah  in  which  he  himself  is  reported  to  have 
spoken  to  man  of  himself,  his  name,  and  his  attri- 
butes, and  not  by  any  induction  or  reference  from 
any  law,  story,  or  doing  ascribed  to  God  anywhere. 
The  prophets  only  expand  or  define  those  concep- 
tions of  deity  which  these  passages  of  direct  tran- 
scendental revelation  in  the  Thorah  contain.  There 
exists  no  other  source  from  which  to  derive  the  cog- 
nition of  the  God  of  revelation." 

It  is  known  that  Mohammedanism  was  a  revolt 
against  idolatry,  and  that  its  founder  claimed  that 


A   RELIGIOUS   SYMPOSIUM.  171 

in  so  doing  he  had  returned  to  the  ]3ure  religion  of 
Abraham.  Still,  "Mohammedanism  is  no  more  a 
reformed  Judaism  than  it  is  a  form  of  Christianity. 
It  was  essentially  a  new  religion.*'  It  is  worthy  of 
notice  that  the  best  account  of  Mohammedanism 
j)resented  to  the  congress  was  by  Doctor  Washburn, 
president  of  Roberts  College,  Constantinople,  and 
not  by  the  disci])le  of  Islam.  Doctor  Washburn 
gives  the  doctrine  of  God  as  statect  by  a  Mohamme- 
dan authority  as  follows : 

"God  is  one  and  eternal.  He  lives,  and  is 
almighty.  He  knows  all  things,  hears  all  things, 
sees  all  things.  He  is  endowed  with  will  and  action. 
He  has  neither  form  nor  feature,  neither  bounds, 
limits,  or  numbers,  neither  parts,  multix)lications,  or 
divisions,  because  he  is  neither  body  nor  matter. 
He  has  neither  beginning  nor  end.  He  is  self -exist- 
ent, without  generation,  dwelling,  or  habitation. 
He  is  outside  the  empire  of  time,  unequaled  in  his 
nature  as  in  his  attributes,  which,  without  being- 
foreign  to  his  essence,  do  not  constitute  it." 

Doctor  Washburn  continues:  "It  has  often  been 
said  that  the  God  of  Islam  is  simply  a  God  of 
almighty  power,  while  the  God  of  Christianity  is  a 
God  of  infinite  love  and  perfect  holiness;  but  this  is 
not  a  fair  statement  of  truth.  The  ninety-nine 
names  of  God  which  the  good  Moslem  constantly 
repeats  assign  these  attributes  to  him.  The  fourth 
name  is  '  The  Most  Holy ' ;  the  twenty- ninth,  '  The 
Just';  the  forty-sixth,  'The  All  Loving';  the  first 
and  most  common  is  'The  Merciful,'  and  the  moral 
attributes  are  often  referred  to  in  the  Koran.     In 


172 

truth  there  is  no  conceivable  perfection  which  the 
Moslem  would  neglect  to  attribute  to  Grod. 

"  Their  conception  of  him  is  that  of  an  absolute 
oriental  monarch,  and  his  unlimited  power  to  do 
what  he  pleases  makes  entire  submission  to  his  will 
the  first,  most  prominent  duty.  The  name  which 
they  gave  to  their  religion  implies  this.  It  is  Islam, 
which  means  submission  or  resignation;  but  a  king 
may  be  good  or  bad,  wise  or  foolish,  and  the  Moslem 
takes  as  much  jjains  as  the  Christian  to  attribute  to 
God  all  wisdom  and  all  goodness. 

"The  essential  difference  in  the  Christian  and 
Mohammedan  conception  of  God  lies  in  the  fact 
that  the  Moslem  does  not  think  of  this  great  King 
as  having  anything  in  common  with  his  subjects, 
from  whom  he  is  infinitely  removed.  The  idea  of 
the  incarnation  of  God  in  Christ  is  to  them  not  only 
bhisphemous  but  absurd  and  incomprehensible;  and 
the  idea  of  fellowship  with  God,  which  is  expressed 
in  calling  him.  our  Father,  is  altogether  foreign  to 
Mohammedan  thought." 

Confucianism  in  its  modern  disciples  seems  to 
have  little  definite  idea  of  God,  though  a  central 
thought  of  spirits  and  of  a  supreme  spirit  answers  to 
them  for  the  divine,  which  they  denominate  heaven. 
Confucianism  was  represented  in  the  congress  by  a 
prize  essay,  and  also  by  an  address  from  Pung 
Quang  Yu,  a  disciple,  and  secretary  of  the  Chinese 
legation  at  Washington.     The  prize  essay  says: 

"The  most  important  thing  in  the  superior  man's 
learning  is  to  fear  disobeying  heaven's  will.  There- 
fore in  our  Confucian  religion  the  most  important 


A   RELIGIOUS   SYMPOSIUM.  173 

thing  is  to  follow  the  will  of  heaven.  The  book  of 
Yik  King  says:  '  In  the  changes  of  the  world  there 
is  a  great  supreme  which  produces  two  i)rincii)ies, 
and  these  two  principles  are  Yin  and  Yang.  By 
supreme  is  meant  the  spring  of  all  activity.  Our 
sages  regard  Yin  and  Yang  and  the  five  elements  as 
acting  and  reacting  on  each  other  without  ceasing, 
and  this  doctrine  is  all-important,  like  as  the  hinge 
of  a  door. 

' '  The  incessant  production  of  all  things  depends  on 
this  as  the  tree  does  on  the  root.  Even  all  human 
affairs  and  all  good  are  also  dependent  on  it;  there- 
fore it  is  called  the  supreme,  just  as  we  speak  of  the 
extreme  points  of  the  earth  as  the  north  and  south 
poles. 

"  By  great  supreme  is  meant  that  there  is  noth- 
ing above  it.  But  heaven  is  without  sound  or  smell, 
therefore  the  ancients  spoke  of  the  infinite  and  the 
great  supreme.  The  great  supreme  producing  Yin 
and  Yang  is  law -producing  forces.  When  Yin  and 
Yang  unite  they  produce  water,  fire,  wood,  metal, 
earth.  When  these  fivQ  forces  operate  in  harmony 
the  four  seasons  come  to  pass.  The  essences  of  the 
infinite,  of  Yin  and  Yang,  and  of  the  five  elements, 
combine,  and  the  heavenly  become  male,  and  the 
earthly  become  female.  When  these  powers  act  on 
each  other  all  things  are  produced  and  reproduced 
and  developed  without  end. 

"As  toman,  he  is  the  best  and  most  intelligent 
of  all.  This  is  what  is  meant  in  the  book  of  Chung 
Yung  when  it  says  that  what  heaven  has  given  is 
the  spiritual. nature.     This  nature  is  law.     All  men 


174  world's  religious  congresses. 

are  thus  born  and  have  this  law.  Therefore  it  is 
Meneiiis  says  that  all  children  love  the  parents  and 
when  grown  up  all  respect  their  elder  bretLren.  If 
men  only  followed  the  natural  bent  of  this  nature, 
then  all  would  go  the  right  way;  hence,  the  Chung 
Yung  says:     '  To  follow  nature  is  the  right  way.' 

''The  choicest  product  of  Yin,  Yang,  and  the  five 
elements  in  the  world  is  man;  the  rest  are  refuse 
products.  The  choicest  anjong  the  choice  ones  are 
the  sages  and  worthies,  and  the  refuse  among  them 
are  the  foolish  and  the  bad.  And  as  man's  body 
comes  from  the  Yin  and  man's  soul  from  the  Yang 
he  can  not  be  perfect.  This  is  what  the  Lung 
philosophers  called  the  material  nature.  Although 
all  men  have  at  birth  a  nature  for  goodness,  still  if 
there  is  nothing  to  fix  it,  then  desires  arise  and  pas- 
sions rule,  and  men  are  not  far  from  being  like 
beasts;  hence  Confucius  says:  'Men's  nature  is 
originally  alike,  but  in  practice  men  become  very 
different.'  The  sages,  knowing  this,  sought  to  fix 
the  nature  with  the  principles  of  moderation, 
uprightness,  benevolence,  and  righteousness. 
Heaven  appointed  rulers  and  teachers,  who  in  turn 
established  worship  and  music  to  improve  men's 
disposition  and  set  uj)  governments  and  x^enalties  in 
order  to  check  men's  wickedness.  The  best  among 
the  people  are  taken  into  schools  where  they  study 
wisdom,  virtue,  benevolence,  and  righteousness,  so 
that  they  may  know  beforehand  how  to  conduct 
themselves  as  rulers  or  ruled. 

"And  lest,  after  many  generations,  there  should 
be  degeneration  and  difficulty  in  finding  the  truth, 


A  RELIGIOUS   SYMPOSIUM.  175 

the  principles  of  heaven  and  earth,  of  men  and 
of  all  things,  have  been  recorded  in  the  Book  of 
Odes  for  the  use  of  after  generations  The  Chung 
Yung  calls  the  practice  of  wisdom  religion.  Our 
religion  well  knows  heaven's  will;  it  looks  on  all 
under  heaven  as  one  family,  great  rulers  as  elder 
branches  in  their  parents'  clan,  great  ministers  as 
chief  officers  of  this  clan,  and  people  at  large  as 
brothers  of  the  same  parents;  and  it  holds  that  all 
things  should  be  enjoyed  in  common,  because  it 
regards  heaven  and  earth  as  the  parents  of  all  alike. 
And  the  commandment  of  the  Confucian  is,  '  Fear 
greatly  lest  you  offend  against  heaven.'  " 

It  thus  appears  that  the  disciples  of  Confucius  have 
given  less  attention  to  dehnition  of  the  divine  than 
to  practice  in  harmony  with  "  heaven's  will."  Pung 
Quang  Yu  in  his  address  gives  some  account  of 
worship,  as  follows  : 

'' '  My  prayers,'  says  Confucius,  'were  offered  up 
long  ago.'  The  meaning  he  wishes  to  convey  is 
that  he  considers  his  prayers  to  consist  in  living  a 
virtuous  life  and  in  constantly  obeying  the  dictates 
of  conscience. 

"  He  therefore  looks  upon  prayers  as  of  no  avail 
to  deliver  any  one  from  sickness.  'He  who  sins 
against  heaven,'  again  he  says,  'has  no  place  to 
pray.'  What  he  means  is  that  even  spirits  have  no 
power  to  bestow  blessings  on  those  who  have  sinned 
against  the  decrees  of  heaven. 

"The  wise  and  the  good,  however,  make  use  of 
offerings  and  sacrifices  simply  as  a  means  of  purify- 
ing themselves  from  the  contamination  of  the  world, 


176  world's  religious  congresses. 

so  that  they  may  become  susceptible  of  spiritual 
influences  and  be  in  sympathetic  touch  with  the 
invisible  world,  to  the  end  that  calamities  may  be 
averted  and  blessings  secured  thereby.  Still,  sacri- 
fices can  not  be  offered  by  all  persons  without  dis- 
tinction. Only  the  emperor  can  offer  sacrifices  to 
heaven.  Only  governors  of  provinces  can  offer  sac- 
rifices to  the  spirits  of  mountains  and  rivers,  land 
and  agriculture.  Lower  officers  of  the  government 
can  offer  sacrifices  only  to  their  ancestors  of  the  five 
preceding  generations,  but  are  not  allowed  to  offer 
sacrifices  to  heaven.  The  common  people,  of  course, 
are  likewise  denied  this  privilege.  They  can  offer 
sacrifices  only  to  their  ancestors. 

''  All  persons,  from  the  emperor  down  to  the  com- 
mon people,  are  strictly  required  to  observe  the  wor- 
shij)  of  ancestors.  The  only  way  in  which  a  virtuous 
man  and  a  dutiful  son  can  show  his  sense  of  obliga- 
tion to  the  authors  of  his  being  is  to  serve  them  when 
dead  as  when  they  were  alive,  when  departed  as 
when  present.  It  is  for  this  reason  that  the  most 
enlightened  rulers  have  always  made  filial  duty  the 
guiding  principle  of  government.  Observances  of 
this  character  have  nothing  to  do  with  religious  cel- 
ebrations and  ceremonies.' ' 

It  is  commonly  believed  that  there  is  no  theism 
in  the  teachings  of  Buddha.  H.  Dharmaj)ala,  in 
his  extended  exposition  of  Buddhism,  said  that 
'Uo  guide  humanity  in  the  right  path  a  Messiah 
appears  from  time  to  time,"  but  adds: 

''  In  the  sense  of  a  supreme  creator,  Buddha  says 
that  there  is  no  such  being,  accepting  the  doctrine 


A    EELIGIOUS   SYMPOSIUM.  177 

of  evolution  as  the  only  true  one,  with  its  corollary, 
the  law  of  cause  and  effect.  He  condemns  the  idea 
of  a  creator,  but  the  supreme  God  of  the  Brahmins 
and  minor  Gods  are  accepted;  but  they  are  subject 
to  the  law  of  cause  and  effect.  This  supreme  God 
is  all  love,  all  merciful,  all  gentle,  and  looks  upon 
all  beings  with  equanimity.  Buddha  teaches  men 
to  practice  these  four  supreme  virtues.  But  there 
is  no  difference  between  the  perfect  man  and  this 
sui3reme  God  of  the  present  world. 

''The  teachings  of  the  Buddha  on  evolution  are 
clear  and  expansive.  We  are  asked  to  look  npon 
the  cosmos  '  as  a  continuous  process  unfolding  itself 
in  regular  order  in  obedience  to  natural  laws.  We 
see  in  it  all  not  a  yawning  chaos  restrained  by  the 
constant  interference  from  without  of  a  wise  and 
beneficent  external  power,  but  a  vast  aggregate  of 
original  elements  perpetually  working  out  their  own 
fresh  redistribution  in  accordance  with  their  own 
inherent  energies.  He  regards  the  cosmos  as  an 
almost  infinite  collection  of  material,  animated  by 
an  almost  infinite  sum  total  of  energy,  which  is 
called  Akasa.  I  have  used  the  above  definition  of 
evolution  as  given  by  Grant  Allen  in  his  '  Life  of 
Darwin,'  as  it  beautifully  expresses  the  generalized 
idea  of  Buddhism.  We  do  not  postulate  that  man's 
evolution  began  from  the  jjrotoplasmic  stage;  but 
we  are  asked  not  to  speculate  on  the  origin  of  life, 
on  the  origin  of  the  law  of  cause  and  effect,  etc.  So 
far  as  this  great  law  is  concerned  we  say  that  it  con- 
trols the  phenomena  of  human  life  as  well  as  those 
of  external  nature;  the  whole  knowable  universe 
forms  one  undivided  whole. 

12 


178  woeld's  religious  congresses. 

''Buddha  promulgated  his  system  of  philosophy 
after  having  studied  all  religions.  And  in  the 
Brahma-jola  sutra  sixty-two  creeds  are  discussed. 
In  the  Kalama,  the  sutra,  Buddha  says: 

"  '  Do  not  believe  in  what  ye  have  heard.  Do  not 
believe  in  traditions,  because  they  have  been  handed 
down  for  many  generations.  Do  not  believe  in  any- 
thing because  it  is  renowned  and  spoken  of  by 
many.  Do  not  believe  merely  because  the  written 
statement  of  some  old  sage  is  produced.  Do  not 
believe  in  conjectures.  Do  not  believe  in  that  as 
truth  to  which  you  have  become  attached  by  habit. 
Do  not  believe  merely  on  the  authority  of  your 
teachers  and  elders.  Often  observation  and  analysis, 
when  the  result  agrees  with  reason,  are  conducive  to 
the  good  and  gain  of  one  and  all.  Accept  and  live 
up  to  it.'" 

One  looks  to  the  gentle  Dharmapala  for  precepts 
of  righteousness  and  purity  rather  than  for  philo- 
sophical insight;  but  this  quotation  here  cited  ex- 
presses just  the  one  mission  of  Buddhism,  to  make 
such  men  full  of  the  spirit  of  purity  and  love,  which 
"  accepts  and  lives  up  to  "  what  it  perceives  to  be 
right.  The  divine,  which  is  man's  ideal  highest 
and  best,  is  realized  in  Buddha,  and  to  be  with  him 
where  he  is,  is  the  aspiration  of  life  Avitli  his  disciples. 
"  To  realize  the  unseen  is  the  goal  of  the  student  of 
Buddha's  teachings,  and  such  a  one  has  to  lead  an 
absolutely  pure  life.     Buddha  says: 

"  '  Let  him  fulfill  all  righteousness;  let  him  be 
devoted  to  that  quietude  ol'  heart  which  springs  from 
within;  let  him  not  drive  back  the  ecstasy  of  con- 


A   RELIGIOUS   SYMPOSIUM.  179 

templation;  let  him  look  through  things;  let  him  be 
much  alone.  Fulfill  all  righteousness  for  the  sake 
of  the  living,  and  for  the  sake  of  the  blessed  ones 
that  are  dead  and  gone.' '' 

If  we  turn  to  the  Christian  presentation  of  the 
idea  of  God,  we  travel  for  the  most  part  through  a 
dreary  waste  of  philosophy.  It  may  be  confessed, 
indeed,  that  the  design  of  these  learned  disquisi- 
tions is  to  show  the  defensibility  of  God's  self- 
revelation  in  the  sacred  Scriptures,  and  to  justify  it 
to  reason;  but  tlie  amount  and  x)reponderance  of 
such  reasoning  is  an  indication  of  failing  faith  in 
revelation,  and  of  the  aspiring  assumption  of 
human  intelligence  in  Christendom.  But  even  here 
we  find  something  new;  a  reconstruction  of  the  old 
theistic  arguments  into  harmony  with  the  accepted 
imx)ortance  of  the  idea  of  the  divine  immanence  in 
nature  and  man,  and  a  certain  revolt  of  reason 
against  unthinkable  dogma.  Perhaps  it  is  because 
dogmatic  theology  has  obscured  the  simple  majesty 
of  God's  self- revelation  in  the  Scriptures  as  the  self- 
subsisting  lover  and  thinker  and  doer,  who  is 
immanent  by  his  Spirit  in  nature  and  in  man, 
whose  providence  is  the  operation  of  his  love  and 
wisdom,  according  to  their  own  law  impressed  upon 
the  universe,  who  speaks  to  man  by  his  Word  and 
reveals  himself  and  his  love  and  redeeming  power 
in  Jesus  Christ;  perhaps  it  is  because  the  mind 
seeks  for  this  truth  in  the  nature  of  things,  which 
dogmatic  theology  has  overlaid  and  obscured  in 
Scripture,  that  we  find  in  these  presentations  so 


180  world's  religious  congresses. 

little  argument  from  revelation  to  faith,  and  so 
much  argument  from  the  necessities  of  the  case, 
with  critical  examination  of  the  processes  by  which 
we  know  that  we  know  that  God  is.  Certain  it  is, 
that  in  a  careful  review  of  all  these  declarations 
concerning  Grod  Cliristian  scholars  will  be  found  in 
the  attitude,  not  of  apostles  teaching  the  nations  out 
of  the  church,  but  of  apologists  trying  to  extract 
from  the  nature  of  things  reasons  in  defense  of  the 
idea  of  a  heavenly  Father.  The  effort  is  legitimate 
if  necessary  for  any  reason,  and  the  arguments  are 
an  improvement  on  the  old;  but  what  does  it  come 
to?  We  may  give  the  answer  in  the  closing  words 
of  Doctor  Momerie's  paper  on  "The  Moral  Evi- 
dences of  a  Divine  Existence": 

"To  sum  up  in  one  sentence  —  all  knowledge, 
whether  practical  or  scientific,  nay,  the  commonest 
experience  of  every-day  life,  implies  the  existence 
of  a  mind  which  is  oninipresent  and  eternal,  while 
the  tendency  toward  righteousness,  which  is  so 
unmistakably  manifest  in  the  course  of  history, 
together  with  the  response  which  this  tendency 
awakens  in  our  awn  hearts,  combine  to  prove  that 
the  infinite  thinker  is  just  and  kind  and  good.  It 
must  be  because  he  is  always  with  us  that  we  some- 
times imagine  that  he  is  nowhere  to  be  found." 

If  any  look  for  an  exposition  of  the  doctrine  of 
one  God  in  three  coequal  and  coeternal  persons, 
the  prevalence  of  this  faith  may  be  found  incident- 
ally in  forms  of  speech  founded  on  it,  and  ideas  of 
divine  government  derived  from  it,  but  in  exposition 


A    RELIGIOUS   SYMPOSIUM.  181 

it  is  greatly  modified.  In  a  paper  on  "Christ  the 
Reason  of  the  Universe,"  the  R-ev.  James  W.  Lee 
presents  the  doctrine  of  the  trinity  in  Gfod  in  a  way 
that  shows  the  effort  of  reason  to  reconcile  it  with 
the  absolute  oneness  of  the  Divine  Being,  and  at 
the  same  time  illustrates  the  intricacy  of  the  i^roc- 
esses  of  thought  in  the  new  intellectual  activity  of 
Christendom.  He  says:  "What  man  seeks,  and 
has  always  sought,  is  such  a  x)hilosophy  or  synthesis 
of  the  facts  of  nature,  of  man,  and  of  God  as  har- 
monizes him  with  himself,  with  his  world,  and  with 
the  being  he  calls  God.  We  call  Christ  the  reason 
of  the  universe  because  he  brings  to  thought  such  a 
synthesis  of  nature,  man,  and  God  as  harmonizes 
human  life  with  itself,  and  with  the  facts  of  nature 
and  God." 

In  the  elucidation  of  this  theme  he  seeks  to  show 
that  a  "  self -causative,  self -active,  omnipotent  en- 
ergy is  the  deepest  thing,  and  the  first  thing  in  the 
universe;"  and  again  that  self-consciousness,  which 
is  the  "complete  form  of  self -activity,  self-causation, 
and  self -relation,"  contains  within  itself  "the  sub- 
ject that  thinks,  and  the  object  that  is  thought,  and 
also  the  identity  of  subject  and  object  in  a  living, 
intelligent  personality."  He  then  proceeds  as  fol- 
lows: 

''In  the  absolute  self-consciousness  of  God  there 
is  subject  and  object  and  the  identity  of  subject  and 
object  in  one  divine  personality^  But  it  is  neces- 
sary that  what  the  absolute  subject  thinks  must  be, 
and  must  also  be  as  perfect  as  the  absolute  subject. 
It  is  necessary  also  that  the  absolute  object  must  be 


182  world's  religious  congresses. 

one.  So  in  the  divine  self-consciousness  the  absolute 
subject  is  Father,  and  the  thought  of  the  Father,  or 
the  absolute  object,  is  the  Son.  But  as  the  Son  is  as 
perfect  as  the  Father  it  is  necessary  that  what  he 
thinks  must  be  also. 

' '  Here  it  is  that  Christian  philosophy  and  tljeology 
gets  the  imperfect  world.  The  Son  thinks  himself 
ftrst  as  eternally  derived,  as  eternally  begotten.  In 
the  fact  that  the  Son  differs  from  the  first  person 
in  that  he  is  eternally  derived  from  him  is  found 
the  thought  of  limitation,  which  is  expressed  in  the 
imperfect  world  in  all  stages  and  grades  of  existence, 
from  pure  passivity  up  through  s]3ace  and  atoms, 
and  force  and  compounds,  and  plants  and  animals  to 
man,  who  is  in  the  image  of  God  and  at  the  top  of 
creation.  In  God  as  Father  the  idea  of  transcend- 
ence is  met,  and  thus  we  have  the  truth  of  mono- 
theism; in  God  the  Son  the  idea  of  an  indwelling 
God  is  met,  and  Ave  have  the  truth  of  polytheism. 
In  God  the  Spirit  the  idea  of  God  pervading  the 
world  is  reached,  and  we  have  the  truth  of  pantheism. 
Here  we  have  a  trinity  not  such  as  would  be  con- 
stituted by  three  judges  in  a  court,  or  by  three 
things  imagined  under  sensible  forms.  The  relations 
between  three  such  judges  or  three  such  sensible 
things  would  be  mechanical  and  accidental  and  not 
absolute  and  essential.  The  trinity  of  the  Christian 
church  is  not  simply  the  aggregation  of  three  indi- 
viduals or  the  unity  of  three  mathematical  points. 
The  trinity  revealed  in  the  Christian  Scriptures  is 
such  as  makes  a  concrete  unity  through  and  by 
means  of  difference.     This  trinity  makes  a  unity, 


A  RELIGIOUS  SYMPOSIUM.  183 

the  distinguisliing  feature  of  which  is  '  fullness '  and 
not  emptiness.  It  is  a  trinity  constitutive  of  a  real, 
experimental,  and  knowable  unity.  God  is  revealed 
in  the  Scriptures  as  intelligence,  life,  and  love,  and 
the  living  process  of  each  is  triune.  The  terms  of 
a  self,  whose  living  function  is  intelligence,  are 
three,  subject,  object,  and  the  organic  identity  of 
the  two.  The  terms  of  such  a  self  are  necessarily 
three,  and  yet  its  nature  is  necessarily  one. 

''If  God  is  intelligent  he  is  triune,  because  the 
process  of  intelligence  is  triune.  There  can  not  be 
mind  without  self -consciousness,  and  the  object  of 
the  eternal  self -consciousness  is  the  eternal  Logos, 
who  is  the  full  and  complete  expression  of  the 
eternal  mind.  Time  or  space  is  not  necessary  to 
the  complete  act  of  self -consciousness. 

"The  movement  of  the  eternal  mind  passing 
through  the  Son  into  the  Holy  Spirit,  and  then 
through  the  finite  world  and  the  Christian  church 
back  to  himself,  has  been  called  a  procession.  A 
procession,  because  infinite,  eternally  complete. 
Thus,  while  God  eternally  goes  from  himself  he 
eternally  returns  to  himself  with  spirits  redeemed 
by  the  Son,  and  regenerated  by  the  Spirit,  capable 
of  sharing  the  love  and  joy  and  life  of  himself. 

"  This  view  makes  it  necessary  that  God  through 
the  Son  create  the  w^orld.  At  this  doctrine  some 
people  will  stagger.  One  thing  is  sure,  God  has 
created  the  world,  and  if  the  necessity  for  creating 
it  was  not  in  his  nature,  then  creation  is  an  accident. 
There  is  no  reason  where  there  is  no  necessity.  The 
necessity  for  a  thing  is  the  reason  for  it.     If  there 


184 

was  no  necessity  for  creation,  the  creative  act 
becomes  wholly  irrational.  God  is  represented  in 
the  very  iirst  chapter  of  the  Bible  as  Creator.  It  is 
necessary  that  a  creator  create. 

''It  is  to  be  remembered,  however,  while  it  is 
necessary  that  God  create,  this  is  a  necessity  that 
falls  within  his  own  nature.  This  means  that  God 
is  essentially  a  creative  being.  There  is  no  necessity 
outside  of  God  by  which  he  is  compelled  to  do  any- 
thing. This  would  be  the  establishment  of  a  fate 
greater  than  God.  All  necessity  relating  to  God 
falls  within  his  own  being  and  is  that  which  defines 
what  he  rationally  and  essentially  is. 

''But  while  the  doctrine  makes  the  creation  of 
the  finite  world  necessary,  it  does  not  make  sin,  or 
the  self-assertion  of  a  finite  spirit  necessary.  But 
man  is  free,  with  a  body  made  of  the  earth  at  the 
bottom  of  himself,  and  with  a  spirit  the  direct  gift 
of  God  at  the  top  of  himself.  Between  man  as  body 
and  man  as  spirit  there  is  the  realm  of  choice.  If 
he  acts  with  reference  to  himself  as  body  simply,  he 
sins.  The  possibility  of  sin  in  the  case  of  man  is 
found  in  that  in  his  personality  there  come  together 
a  limited  and  an  unlimited  self,  a  carnal  and  a 
spiritual  self,  a  self  in  time  and  space  and  a  self 
under  the  form  of  eternity. 

"This  doctrine  helps  us  again  to  account  for  the 
two  poles  of  man's  moral  and  intellectual  con- 
sciousness. Human  nature  has  a  dual  constitution. 
It  is  the  unity  of  two  principles,  a  principle  of 
thought  and  will  and  a  principle  of  truth  and  right. 
As  a  physical  being  he  is  dual.     The  subjective  side 


A   RELIGIOUS   SYMPOSIUM.  185 

of  his  physical  self  is  hunger,  the  objective  side  oi 
his  physical  nature  is  food.  Now,  before  he  can 
live  as  a  physical  being  the  hunger  and  the  food 
must  come  together.  On  his  subjective  side  man 
feels  he  is  free,  but  on  his  objective  side  he  feels  he 
must  obey.  How  is  he  to  be  free  and  obedient  at 
the  same  time  ?  When  we  remember  that  the  nature 
of  man  is  a  reproduction  of  the  nature  of  the  Son  of 
God,  and  that  the  Holy  Spirit,  proceeding  from  the 
Father  and  the  Son,  flows  out  into  humanity  to  en- 
lighten, to  quicken,  to  convince  of  sin,  and  then  to 
renew,  to  regenerate  and  to  organize  into  the  Chris- 
tian church,  we  will  see  that  the  truth  the  Spirit 
presents  to  man's  intellect  is  adapted  to  it  as  food 
is  to  his  hunger,  and  that  the  law  the  Spirit  stimu- 
lates and  urges  man  to  obey  is  the  law  of  his  own 
nature. 

"  This  doctrine  gives  us  the  meaning  of  the  strug- 
gle, conflict,  pain,  which  are  apparent  throughout 
the  realm  of  nature  and  human  life.  Liebnitz, 
looking  at  the  toj)  of  things,  at  health,  at  joy,  sun- 
shine, laughter,  and  prosperity,  said  this  was  the 
best  possible  world.  Schopenhauer,  looking  at  the 
bottom,  at  storms,  thorns,  disease,  poverty,  death, 
said  this  was  the  worst  possible  world.  The 
entrance  of  the  divine  procession  into  the  limitations 
of  time  and  space  is  advertised  by  the  storm  and 
stress,  the  ceaseless  clash  and  strife  which  begin 
among  the  atoms.  This  struggle  is  kept  up 
through  all  stages  of  organization  until  when  we 
reach  the  j)lane  of  human  life  it  is  expressed  in  cries 
and  wails,  in  tragedies,  epics,  litanies,  which  become 


186 

the  most  interesting  part  of  human  literature.  Into 
this  struggle  comes  the  Son  of  Man  and  the  8()n 
of  God.  He  meets  it,  endures  it,  and  conquers 
it,  and  is  crucihed,  and  his  crucifixion  is  the  cul- 
mination of  the  process  of  trial  and  storm  and  strife 
which  begun  with  the  atoms  and  continued  through 
the  whole  course  of  nature,  When  Christ  comes 
up  from  the  dead  then  the  truth  of  the  ages  gets 
defined^  that  through  suffering  and  denial  and 
crucifixion  is  the  way  to  holiness  and  everlasting 
life.  From  thenceforth  a  redeemed  humanity 
becomes  the  working  hypothesis  and  the  ideal  of 
the  race.  Then  it  comes  to  be  seen  that  the  whole 
movement  of  God  looks  to  the  organization  of  the 
human  race  in  Jesus  Christ,  the  reason,  the  logos, 
the  plan  and  the  ideal  framework  of  the  universe." 

It  needs  to  be  borne  in  mind,  however,  when  seek- 
ing help  of  philosophy,  that  the  very  ideas  with 
wiiich  it  concerns  itself  are  derived  from  revelation. 
As  Bishop  Keane  said,  in  preparing  the  way  for  his 
discussion  of  the  "incarnation  idea  in  all  history": 
' '  The  sublime  conception  of  the  existence  of  God 
and  of  the  existence  of  revelation  is  not  a  spon- 
taneous generation  from  the  brain  of  man.  Tyndal 
and  Pasteur  have  demonstrated  that  there  is  no 
spontaneous  generation  from  the  inorganic  to  the 
organic.  Just  as  little  is  there,  or  could  there  be,  a 
spontaneous  generation  of  the  idea  of  the  infinite 
from  the  brain  of  the  finite.  The  fact,  in  each  case, 
is  the  result  of  a  touch  from  above.  All  humanity 
points  back  to  a  golden  age,  when  man  was  taught 


A   RELIGIOUS   SYMPOSIUM.  187 

of  the  divine  by  the  divine,  that  in  that  knowledge 
lie  might  know  why  he  himself  existed,  and  how 
his  life  was  to  be  shaped." 

The  necessity  for  a  revealing  God  to  be  in  con- 
tinual revelation,  and  to  a  fallen  race,  in  continual 
adajDtation  to  its  necessities,  inevitably  links  the  idea 
of  incarnation  with  the  Christian  conception  of  the 
divine,  and  its  fullest  statement  that  which  accounts 
for  the  appearance  of  Jesus  Christ. 

INCARTiATION. 

Bishop  Keane,  in  tracing  the  history  of  the  idea, 
shows  it  to  be  universal.  The  "  i3rimitive  teaching 
of  man  by  his  creator  has  been  transformed  in  the 
lapse  of  ages,  in  the  vicissitudes  of  distant  wander- 
ings, of  varying  fortunes,  and  of  changing  culture; 
still,  the  comparative  study  of  ancient  religions 
shows  that  in  them  all  there  has  existed  one  central, 
pivotal  concept,  dressed,  indeed,  in  various  garbs  of 
myth  and  legend  and  philosophy,  yet  ever  recogniz- 
ably the  same  —  the  concept  of  the  fallen  race  of 
man  and  of  a  future  restorer,  deliverer,  redeemer, 
who,  being  human,  should  yet  be  different  from  and 
above  the  merely  human." 

Pointing  out,  then,  the  difference  in  the  Eastern 
and  Western  concepts  of  man,  leading  to  different 
ideas  of  the  indwelling  of  the  divine,  and  tracing^ 
the  voice  of  the  prophets  pointing  forward  to  him 
that  is  to  come,  and  showing  in  its  fulfillment  the 
divine   answer    to  a   universal  expectation  and    a 


188  world's  religious  congresses. 

universal  need,  he  presents  the  reasonableness  of 
the  incarnation  as  follows: 

"Reason  sees  that  the  finite  could  not  thus 
mount  to  the  infinite  any  more  than  matter  of  itself 
could  mount  to  spirit.  But  could  not  the  infinite 
stoop  to  the  finite  and  lift  it  to  liis  bosom  and  unite 
it  with  himself,  wdth  no  confounding  of  the  finite 
with  the  infinite  nor  of  the  infinite  with  the  finite, 
yet  so  that  they  shall  be  linked  in  one?  Here  rea- 
son can  discern  no  contradiction  of  ideas,  nothing 
beyond  the  power  of  the  infinite.  But  could  the 
infinite  stoop  to  this?  Reason  sees  that  to  do  so 
would  cost  the  infinite  nothing,  since  he  is  ever  his 
unchanging  self;  it  sees,  moreover,  that  since  crea- 
tion is  the  offspring  not  of  his  need  but  of  his 
bounty,  of  his  love,  it  would  be  most  worthy  of 
infinite  love  to  thus  perfect  the  creative  act,  to  thus 
lift  up  the  creature  and  bring  all  things  into  unity 
and  harmony.  Then  must  reason  declare  it  is  not 
only  i^ossible  but  it  is  most  fitting  that  it  should  be  so. 

"Moreover,  we  see  that  it  is  this  very  thing  that 
all  humanity  has  been  craving  for,  whether  intel- 
ligently or  not.  This  very  thing  all  religions  have 
been  looking  forward  to  or  have  been  groping  for  in 
the  dark.  Turn  we  then  to  himself  and  ask:  '  Art 
thou  he  who  is  to  come,  or  look  we  for  another?' 
To  that  question  he  must  answer,  for  the  world 
needs  and  must  have  the  truth.  Meek  and  humble 
of  heart  though  he  be,  the  world  has  a  right  to 
know  whether  he  be  indeed  'the  Expected  of  the 
Nations,  the  Immanuel,  Lord  with  us.'  Therefore 
does  he  answer  clearly  and  unmistakably: 


A   EELIGIOUS   SYMPOSIUM.  189 

"  Abraham  rejoiced  that  he  should  see  my  day.  He  saw  it  and 
was  glad. 

"  Art  thou  then  older  than  Abraham? 

"  Before  Abraham  was  I  am. 

"Who  art  thou,  then? 

"  I  am  the  beginning,  who  also  speak  to  you. 

"Whosoever  seeth  me  seeth  the  Father;  I  and  the  Father  are 
one. 

"  No  one  comet h  to  the  Father  but  by  me." 

The  appeal  of  Bishop  Keane  to  Jesus  Christ  as 
the  revealed  God,  in  whom  is  the  fulfillment  of 
divine  promise  and  the  substance  of  things  longed 
for  by  the  sages  of  the  Gentiles,  was  fitly  followed 
by  the  address  of  the  Rev.  J.  K.  Smyth,  of  the  New 
Jerusalem  church  in  Boston  Highlands,  on  ''The 
Incarnation  of  God  in  Christ,"  from  which  we  may 
quote  at  length: 

"Christianity,  in  its  broadest  as  well  as  its 
deepest  sense,  means  the  presence  of  God  in  human- 
ity. It  is  the  revelation  of  God  in  his  world;  the 
opening  up  of  a  straight,  sure  way  to  that  God; 
and  a  new  tidal  fiow  of  divine  life  to  all  the  sons  of 
men.  The  hope  of  this  has,  in  some  measure,  been 
in  every  age  and  in  every  religion,  stirring  them 
with  expectation.  Evil  might  be  strong;  but  a  day 
would  come  when  the  seed  of  a  woman  would 
bruise  the  serpent's  head,  even  though  it  should 
bruise  the  conqueror's  heel.  God  in  his  world  to 
champion  and  redeem  it !  This  is  what  the  relig- 
ions of  the  ages  have,  in  some  form  and  with 
various  degrees  of  certainty,  looked  for.  This  is 
what  sang  itself  into  the  songs  and  prophecies  of 
Israel.    '  And  the  glory  of  Jehovah  shall  be  revealed: 


190 


and  all  flesh  shall  see  it  together;  for  the  mouth  of 
Jehovah  hath  spoken  it. 

"'Behold,  the  Lord  Jehovah  will  come  in 
strength,  and  his  arm  shall  rule  for  him.  Behold 
his  reward  is  with  him  and  his  work  before  him. 
He  shall  feed  his  flock  like  a  shepherd.  He  shall 
gather  the  lambs  with  his  arms,  and  carry  them  in 
his  bosom,  and  shall  gently  lead  those  that  are 
with  young.' 

''Christianity  is  in  the  world  to  utter  her  belief 
that  he  who  revealed  himself  as  the  Good  Shepherd 
realizes  these  expectations  and  fulfills  these  prom- 
ises, and  that  in  the  Word  made  flesh  the  glory  of 
Jehovah  has  been  revealed  and  all  flesh  may  see  it 
together.  Even  in  childhood  he  bears  the  name 
Immanuel,  which,  being  interpreted,  is  'God  with 
us.'  He  explains  his  work  and  his  presence  by 
declaring  that  it  is  the  coming  of  the  kingdom 
—  not  of  law,  nor  of  earthly  government,  nor 
of  ecclesiasticism,  but  of  God.  His  purpose, 
to  manifest  and  bring  forth  the  love  and  the  wis- 
dom of  God;  his  miracles,  simply  the  attesta- 
tions of  the  divine  immanence;  his  supreme  end, 
the  culmination  of  all  his  labors;  his  sufferings, 
his  victories,  to  become  the  open  and  glorified  me- 
dium of  divine  life  to  the  world.  It  is  not  another 
Moses,  nor  another  Elias,  but  God  in  the  world  — 
God  with  us  —  this,  the  supreme  announcement  of 
Christianity,  asserting  his  immanence,  revealing 
God  and  ninn  as  intended  for  each  other,  and  rous- 
ing in  man  slumbering  wants  and  capacities  to  real- 
ize the  new  vision  of  manhood  that  dawns  upon  him 
from  this  luminous  Figure. 


A   RELIGIOUS   SYMPOSIUM.  191 

"Christianity  affirms  as  a  fundamental  fact  of 
the  God  it  worships  that  he  is  a  God  who  does  not 
hide  or  withhold  himself,  but  who  is  ever  going 
forth  toyman  in  the  effort  to  reveal  himself,  and  to 
be  known  and  felt  according  to  the  degree  of  man's 
capacity  and  need.  This  self- manifestation  or 
'forthgoing  of  all  that  is  known  or  knowable  of 
the  divine  perfections'  is  the  Logos,  or  Word;  and 
it  is  the  very  center  of  Christian  revelation.  This 
Word  is  God,  not  withdrawn  in  dreary  solitude,  but 
coming  into  intelligible  r.nd  personal  manifestation. 
From  the  beginning — for  so  we  may  now  read  the 
'  Golden  Proem '  of  St.  John's  Gospel,  with  its  won- 
derful spiritual  history  of  the  Logos  —  from  the 
beginning  God  has  this  desire  to  go  forth  to  some- 
thing outside  of  himself  and  be  known  by  it.  '  In 
the  beginning  was  the  Word.'  Hence  the  creation. 
'  All  things  were  made  by  him.'  Hence,  too,  out  of 
this  divine  di^sire  to  reveal  and  accommodate  him- 
self to  man,  his  presence  in  various  forms  of  relig- 
ion. 'He  was  in  the  world.'  Even  in  man's  sin 
and  spiritual  blindness  the  eternal  Logos  seeks  to 
bring  itself  to  his  consciousness. 

"'The  light  shineth  in  the  darkness.'  But 
gradually  through  the  ages,  through  man's  sinful- 
ness, his  spiritual  perceptions  become  dim  and  he 
sees"  as  in  a  state  of  open-eyed  blindness  only  the 
forms  through  which  the  divine  mind  has  sought  to 
manifest  himself.  '  He  was  in  the  world  and  the 
world  knew  him  not.'  What  more  can  be  done? 
T^yp^j  symbol,  religious  ceremonials,  scrix)tures  —  all 
have  been  employed      Has  not  man  slipped  beyond 


192  world's  religious  congresses. 

the  reach  of  the  divine  endeavors?  But  the  Christian 
history  of  the  Logos  moves  on  to  its  supreme  an- 
nouncement: '  Aiid  the  Word  was  made  flesh  and 
dwelt  among  ns,  and  we  beheld  his  glory,  the  glory 
as  of  the  only  begotten  of  the  Father,  fulTof  grace 
and  truth.'  Not  some  angel  come  from  heaven  to 
deliver  some  further  message;  not  another  prophet 
sprung  from  our  bewildered  race  to  chide,  to  warn, 
or  to  exhort;  but  the  Logos,  which  in  the  beginning 
was  with  God  and  which  was  God;  the  Jehovah  of 
the  old  prophecies,  whose  glory,  it  had  been  prom- 
ised, would  be  revealed  that  all  flesh  might  see  it 
together.  And  so  in  the  Christian  view  of  it  the 
history  of  the  Logos  completes  itself  in  the  story  of 
the  manger.  And  so,  too,  the  incarnation,  instead  of 
being  exceptional,  is  exactly  in  line  with  what  the 
Logos  has  from  the  beginning  been  doing.  God, 
as  the  Word,  has  ever  been  coming  to  man  in  a 
form  accommodated  to  his  need,  keeping  step  with 
his  steps  until,  in  the  completeness  of  this  desire  to 
bring  himself  to  man  where  he  is,  he  appears  to 
the  natural  senses  and  in  a  form  suitable  to  our 
natural  life. 

''  In  the  Christian  conception  of  God,  as  one  who 
seeks  to  reveal  himself  to  man,  it  simply  is  inevit- 
able that  the  Word  should  manifest  himself  on  the 
very  lowest  plane  of  man's  life  if  at  any  time  it 
would  be  true  to  say  of  the  spiritual  condition: 
'  This  people's  heart  is  waxed  gross,  and  their  ears 
are  dull  of  hearing  and  their  eyes  they  have  closed.' 
It  is  not  extraordinary  in  the  sense  of  its  being  a 
hard  or  an  unnatural  thing  for  God  to  do.     He  has 


\ 


''~*~'-«^**»*-^*  * 


SWAMI  VIVEKANANDA, 

Hindu  Monk,  India. 


A   RELIGIOUS   SYMPOSIUM.  193 

always  been  approacliing  man,  always  adapting  his 
revelations  to  Imman  conditions  and  needs.  It  is 
this  constant  accommodation  and  manifestation 
that  has  kept  man's  power  of  spiritual  thought 
alive.  The  history  of  religions,  together  with  their 
remains,  is  a  proof  of  it.  The  testimony  of  the  his- 
toric faiths  presented  in  this  x)arliament  has  con- 
firmed it  as  the  most  self-evident  thing  of  the  divine 
nature  in  his  dealings  with  the  children  of  men, 
and  the  incarnation  as  its  natural  and  completest 
outcome. 

"And  when  we  begin  to  follow  the  life  of  him 
whose  footi^rints,  in  the  light  of  Christian  history 
and  experience,  are  still  looked  ui)on  as  the  very 
footprints  of  the  Incarnate  Word,  the  gospel  story 
is  a  story  of  toil,  of  suffering,  of  storm,  and  tem- 
pest; a  story  of  sacrifice,  of  love  so  pure  and  holy 
that  even  now  it  has  the  jjower  to  touch,  to  thrill, 
to  re-create  man's  selfish  nature.  There  is  an  un- 
doubted actuality  in  the  human  side  of  this  life,  but 
just  as  surely  there  is  a  certain  divine  something 
forever  speaking  through  those  human  tones  and 
reaching  out  through  those  kindly  hands.  The 
character  of  the  Logos  is  never  lost,  sacrificed,  or 
lowered.  It  is  always  this  divine  something  trying 
to  manifest  itself,  trying  to  make  itself  understood, 
trying  to  redeem  man  from  his  slavery  to  evil  and 
draw  to  itself  his  spiritual  attachment. 

"Here,  plain  to  human  sight,  is  part  of  that  age- 
long effort  of  the  Word  to  reveal  itself  to  man  only 
now  through  a  nature  formed  and  born  for  the  pur- 
pose.    We  are  reminded  of  it  when  we  hear  him 

13 


194  world's  religious  congresses. 

say:  'Before  Abraliam  was,  I  am.'  We  are 
assured  of  it  when  he  declares  that  he  came  forth 
from  the  Father.  And  we  know  that  he  has  tri- 
umphed when,  at  the  last,  we  hear  his  promise, 
'Lo,  I  am  with  you  always.'  It  is  the  Logos 
speaking.  The  divine  purpose  has  been  fulfilled. 
The  Word  has  come  forth  on  this  plane  of  human 
life,  manifested  himself  and  established  a  relation- 
ship with  man  nearer  and  dearer  than  ever  before. 
He  has  made  himself  available  and  indispensable 
to  every  need  or  effort.  'Without  me  ye  can  do 
nothing.'  In  his  divine  humanity  he  has  estab- 
lished a  perfect  medium  whereby  we  mny  have  free 
and  immediate  access  to  God' s  fatherly  help.  '  I 
am  the  Door  of  the  sheep.'  'lam  the  Way,  the 
Truth,  and  the  Life.'  In  this  thought  of  the  divine 
character  of  the  Son  of  Man  the  early  Christians 
found  strength  and  comfort.  For  a  time  they  did 
not  attempt  to  define  this  faith  theologically.  It 
was  a  simple,  direct,  earnest  faith  in  the  goodness 
and  redeeming  power  of  the  God-man,  whose  perfect 
nature  had  inspired  them  to  believe  in  the  reality  of 
his  heavenly  reign.  They  felt  that  the  risen  Lord 
w^as  near  them;  that  he  was  the  Saviour  so  long 
]3romised;  the  world's  hope,  'in  whom  dwelleth  all 
the  fullness  of  the  Godhead  bodily.'  But  to- 
day man  claims  his  right  to  enter  understandingly 
into  the  mysteries  of  faith,  and  reason  asks.  How 
could  God  or  the  divine  Logos  be  made  flesh? 

"Yet,  in  seeking  for  an  answer  to  such  an  in- 
quiry, we  are  at  the  same  time  seeking  to  know  of 
the  origin  of  human  life.     The  conception  and  birth 


A   RELIGIOUS   SYMPOSIUM.  195 

of  Jesus  Christ,  as  related  in  the  gospels,  is,  de- 
clares the  reason,  a  strange  fact.  So,  too,  is  the 
conception  and  birth  of  every  human  being.  Neither 
can  be  explained  by  any  principle  of  naturalism, 
which  regards  the  external  as  first  and  the  internal 
as  second  and  of  comparative  unim]3ortance. 
Neither  can  be  understood  unless  it  be  recognized 
that  spiritual  forces  and  substances  are  related  to 
natural  forces  and  substances  as  cause  and  effect; 
and  that  they,  the  former,  are  prior  and  the  active, 
formative  agents  playing  upon,  and  received  by,  the 
latter.  We  do  not  articulate  words  and  then  try  to 
pack  them  with  ideas  and  intentions.  The  process 
is  the  reverse.  First  the  intention,  then  that  inten- 
tion coming  forth  as  a  thought,  and  then  the 
thought  incarnating  itself  by  means  of  articulated 
sounds  or  written  characters. 

"By  this  same  law  man  is  primarily,  essentially, 
a  spiritual  being.  In  the  very  form  of  his  creation 
that  which  essentially  is  the  man,  and  which  in 
time  loves,  thinks,  makes  plans  and  efforts  for  use- 
ful life,  is  spiritual.  In  his  conception,  then,  the 
human  seed  must  not  only  be  acted  upon  but  be 
derived  from  invisible,  spiritual  substances  which 
are  clothed  with  natural  substances  for  the  sake 
of  conveyance.  That  which  is  slowly  developed 
into  a  human  being  or  soul  must  be  a  living  organ- 
ism composed  of  spiritual  substances.  Gradually 
that  primitive  form  becomes  enveloped  and  pro- 
tected within  successive  clothings,  while  the  mother, 
from  the  substances  of  the  natural  world,  silently 
weaves  the  swathings  and  coverings  which  are  to 


196 

serve  as  a  natural  or  physical  body  and  make  possi- 
ble its  entrance  into  this  outer  court  of  life. 

"  We  do  not  concede,  then,  that  there  is  anything 
impossible  or  contrary  to  order  in  the  declaration  of 
the  gospel,  but  '  that  which  is  conceived  in  her  is 
of  the  Holy  Spirit.'  It  is  still  in  line  with  the  gen- 
eral law  of  the  concej^tion  and  birth  of  all  human 
beings.  The  primitive  form  or  nature,  as  in  the  case 
of  man,  is  spiritual.  But  in  this  instance  it  is  not  de- 
rived from  a  human  father,  but  is  especially  formed 
or  molded  by  the  divine  creative  spirit;  formed  as  with 
us,  of  spiritual  substances;  formed  with  a  perfection 
and  with  infinite  possibilities  of  development  un- 
known to  us;  formed,  too,  for  the  special  i^urjiose  of 
being  the  perfect  instrument  or  medium  upon  and 
through  which  the  divine  might  act  as  its  very  soul. 
Because  that  primitive  form  is  divinely  molded  or 
begotten  instead  of  being  derived  from  a  finite  pater- 
nity, it  is  unique.  It  is  divine  in  first  principles. 
In  the  outer  clothings  of  the  natural  mind  and  in 
the  successive  wrappings  furnished  by  the  woman 
nature  it  shares  our  weakness.  But  primarily, 
essentially,  it  is  born  with  the  capacity  of  becoming 
divine  through  the  removal  of  whatever  is  imperfect 
or  limiting,  and  through  complete  union  with  the 
divine  which  formed  it  for  himself. 

'^  Yery  like  our  humanity  in  all  that  pertains  to 
the  growth  of  the  natural  body  and  natural  mind 
would  be  this  humanity  of  the  Son  of  Man.  The 
same  tenderness  and  helplessness  of  its  infantile 
body;  the  same  possibility  of  weariness,  hunger, 
thirst,  pain;   the  same  exposure,  too,  in  the  lower 


A   RELIGIOUS   SYMPOSIUM.  197 

planes  of  the  mind,  to  the  assaults  of  evil  resulting  in 
internal  struggle,  temptation,  and  anguish  of  spirit. 
And  yet  there  is  always  an  unlikeness,  a  difference,  in 
that  the  very  primitive,  determining  forms  and  possi- 
bilities of  that  humanity  are  divinely  begotten.  And 
so  we  think  of  this  humanity  of  Jesus  Christ  as  so 
formed  and  born  as  to  be  able  to  serve  as  a  perfect 
instrument  whereby  the  eternal  Logos  might  come 
and  dwell  among  us;  might  so  express  and  pour 
forth  his  love;  might  so  accommodate  and  reveal  his 
truth;  might,  in  a  word,  so  set  himself  on  all  the 
planes  of  angelic  and  human  existence  as  to  be  for- 
ever after  immediately  present  in  them,  and  so 
become  literally,  actually  God-with-us. 

"Gradually  this  was  done.  Gradually  the  divine 
life  of  love  and  wisdom  came  into  the  several  planes 
which,  by  incarnation,  existed  in  this  humanity, 
removing  from  them  whatever  was  limiting  or 
imperfect,  substituting  what  Avas  divine,  filling 
them,  glorifying  them,  and  in  the  end  making  them 
a  very  part  of  himself. 

"This  brings  into  harmony  the  two  elements 
which  we  are  apt  to  look  upon  and  keep  distinct, 
the  human  and  the  divine.  For  he  himself  tells  us 
of  a  process,  a  distinct  change  which  his  humanity 
underwent,  and  which  is  the  key  to  his  real  nature. 
'The  Holy  Spirit,'  says  the  record,  'was  not  yet 
given,  because  that  Jesus  was  not  yet  glorified.' 
Some  divine  operation  was  going  on  witliin  that 
humanity  which  was  not  fully  accomplished.  But 
on  the  eve  of  his  crucifixion  he  exclaimed:  'Now 
is  the  Son  of  Man  glorified  and  God  is  glorified  in 


198  wokld's  religious  congresses. 

him.'  It  is  this  process  of  putting  off  what  was 
finite  and  infirm  in  the  human,  and  the  substitution 
of  the  divine  from  within,  resulting  in  the  formation 
of  a  divine  humanity.  So  long  as  that  is  going  on 
the  human  as  the  Son  feels  a  separation  from  the 
divine  as  the  Father,  and  speaks  of  it  and  turns  to 
it  as  though  it  were  another  person.  But  when  the 
glorification  is  accomplished,  when  the  divine  has 
entirely  filled  tiie  human  and  they  act  '  reciprocally 
and  unanimously  as  soul  and  body,'  then  the  decla- 
ration is:  'I  and  the  Father  are  one.'  Divine  in 
origin,  human  in  birth,  divinely  human  through 
glorification.  As  to  his  soul,  or  inmost  being,  the 
Father;  as  to  his  human,  the  Son;  as  to  the  life  and 
saving  power  that  go  forth  from  his  glorified  nature, 
the  Holy  Spirit. 

"This  story  of  the  divine  life  in  its  descent  to 
man,  this  coming  or  incarnation  of  the  Logos  through 
the  humanity  of  Jesus  Christ,  it  is  the  sweet  and 
serious  privilege  of  Christianity  to  carry  into  the 
w^orld.  I  try  to  state  it;  I  try  from  a  new  theolog- 
ical standpoint  to  show  reasons  for  its  rational 
acceptance.  But  I  know  that  however  true  and 
necessary  explanations  may  be,  the  fact  itself  tran- 
scends them  all.  No  one  in  this  free  assembly  is 
required  or  expected  to  hide  his  denominationalism. 
And  yet  I  love  to  stand  with  my  fellow  Christians 
and  unite  with  them  in  that  simplest,  most  compre- 
hensive creed  that  was  ever  uttered,  Credo  Domino. 
Denominationalism,  dogmatism,  aside!  Aside,  too, 
all  prejudices  and  practices.  What  is  the  simplest, 
the  fundamental  idea  of  the  being  of  Jesus  Christ  ? 


A   RELIGIOUS   SYMPOSIUM.  199 

Brother  men,  are  we  not  ready  to  unite  in  saying  it 
is,  and  saying  it  to  the  whole  round  world:  that  the 
Lord  Jesus  Christ  is  the  life  or  the  love  of  God, 
manifesting  itself  to  man,  going  out  into  the  world, 
awakening  the  capacity  which  is  in  every  man  for 
spiritual,  yes,  for  divine  life  ?  Is  not  that  the  very 
heart  of  the  gospel,  or  rather  is  not  that  the  gospel^ 
And  is  it  not  equally  true  that  up  to  this  liour  there 
is  no  fact  so  real,  no  fact  so  powerful,  no  fact  that  is 
working  such  spiritual  wonders  as  the  fact,  the 
influence,  the  being  of  Jesus  Christ? 

"We  are  sitting  here  as  the  first  great  parliament 
of  the  religions  of  the  world.  We  rightly  believe, 
we  boldly  say,  that  from  this  time  on  the  father- 
hood of  God  and  the  brotherhood  of  man  must 
mean  more  to  us  than  ever  before,  and  none  can  be 
so  timid  but  would  dare  to  stand  here  and  say  that 
in  this  hall  the  death-knell  of  bigotry  has  sounded. 
Yet  it  were  a  sacrilege  to  suppose  that  the  large  tol- 
erance which  has  been  shown  here,  and  which  has 
secured  for  the  representatives  of  every  faith  such  a 
hospitable  reception,  is  the  evolution  of  mere  good 
nature.  It  is  the  Spirit  of  him  whose  utterance  of 
those  simple  words,  which  have  been  inscribed  as 
the  text  of  the  Columbian  Liberty  Bell,  are  already 
ringing  in  'the  Christ  that  is  to  be' —  'A  new  com- 
mandment I  give  unto  you.  That  ye  love  one 
another.'  " 

SIN  AND   RECONCILIATION". 

If  we  turn  now  to  the  subject  of  Sin  and  Reconcilia- 
tion, it  is  of  interest  to  note  the  following  testimony 


200  world's  eeligious  congresses. 

from  the  Rev.  T.  E.  Slater  of  Bangalore,  India. 
Having  pointed  out  that  the  speculative  problem 
before  the  Hindu  philosopher  and  the  struggle  of 
the  religious  man  have  been  how  to  break  the  dream, 
get  rid  of  the  impostures  of  sense  and  time,  emanci- 
pate self  from  the  bondage  of  a  fleeting  world,  and 
attain  the  one  reality,  the  divine,  he  shows  tliat 
idolatry  itself,  degrading  as  it  is,  is  an  effort  to 
realize  to  the  senses  what  otherwise  is  only  an  idea. 

' '  Idolatry ' '  he  says,  "  is  a  strong  human  protest 
against  pantheism,  which  denies  the  personality  of 
God,  and  atheism,  which  denies  God  altogether;  it 
testifies  to  the  natural  craving  of  the  heart  to  have 
before  it  some  manifestation  of  the  unseen  —  to 
behold  a  humanized  God.  It  is  not,  at  bottom,  an 
efl'ort  to  get  away  from  God,  but  to  bring  God  near. 

' '  Once  more.  The  idea  of  the  need  of  sacrificial 
acts,  '  the  first  and  primary  rites '  —  eucharistic, 
sacramental,  and  projjitiary  —  bearing  the  closest 
parallelism  to  the  provisions  of  the  Mosaic  economy, 
and  prompted  by  a  sense  of  personal  unworthiness, 
guilt,  and  misery  —  that  life  is  to  be  forfeited  to 
the  Divine  Proprietor  —  is  ingrained  in  the  whole 
system  of  Yedic  Hinduism.  A  sense  of  original 
corruption  has  been  felt  by  all  classes  of  Hindus, 
as  indicated  in  the  prayer:  '  I  am  sinful,  I  commit 
sin,  my  nature  is  sinful.  Save  me,  0  thou  lotus-eyed 
Hari,  the  remover  of  sin.' 

"No  literature,"  he  continues,  "not  even  the 
Jewish,  contains  so  many  words  relating  to  sacrifice 
as  Sanskrit.  The  land  has  been  saturated  with 
blood.    The  secret  of  this  great  importance  attached 


A    RELIGIOUS   SYMPOSIUM.  201 

to  sacrifice  is  to  be  found  in  the  remarkable  fact 
that  the  authorship  of  the  institution  is  attributed  to 
'Creation's  Lord'  himself  and  its  date  is  reckoned 
as  coeval  with  the  creation.  The  idea  exists  in  the 
three  chief  Vedas,  and  in  the  Brahmanas  and  Upani- 
shads  that  Prajapati,  '  the  lord  and  supporter  of  his 
creatures' — the  Purusha  (primeval  male)  —  begot- 
ten before  the  world,  becoming  half  immortal  and 
half  mortal  in  a  body  fit  for  sacrifice,  offered  himself 
for  the  devas  (emancipated  mortals)  and  for  the 
benefit  of  the  world;  thereby  making  all  subsequent 
sacrifice  a  reflection  or  figure  of  himself.  The  ideal 
of  the  Vedic  Prajapati,  mortal  and  yet  divine,  him- 
self both  priest  and  victim,  who  by  death  overcame 
death,  has  long  since  been  lost  in  India.  Among 
the  many  gods  of  the  Hindu  pantheon  none  has  ever 
come  forward  to  claim  the  vacant  throne  once  rever- 
enced by  Indian  rishis.  No  other  than  the  Jesus  of 
the  Gospels  —  '  the  Lamb  slain  from  the  foundation 
of  the  world '  —  has  ever  appeared  to  fulfill  this 
primitive  idea  of  redemption  by  the  eflacacy  of  sac- 
rifice; and  when  this  Christian  truth  is  preached  it 
ought  not  to  sound  strange  to  Indian  ears.  An  emi- 
nent Hindu  preacher  has  said  that  no  one  can  be  a 
true  Hindu  without  being  a  true  Christian.  But 
one  of  the  saddest  and  most  disastrous  facts  of  the 
India  of  to-day  is  that  modern  Brahmanism,  like 
modern  Parseeism,  is  fast  losing  its  old  ideas,  relax- 
ing its  hold  on  the  more  spiritual  portions,  the  dis- 
tinctive tenets  of  the  ancient  faith.  Happily,  how- 
ever, a  reaction  has  set  in,  mainly  through  the  exer- 
tions of  these  scholars,   and  the  more  thoughtful 


202 

minds  are  earnestly  seeking  to  recover  from  their 
sacred  books  some  of  the  buried  treasures  of  the 
past." 

The  reference  here  to  Parseeism  recalls  what  J.  J. 
Modi  says  in  his  paper  on  the  religion  of  Zoroaster 
about  the  Parsee  doctrine  of  purification.  Man  to 
be  perfect  before  God  must  shun  evil,  and  work 
righteousness;  and  the  sacred  fire  is  the  symbol  of 
the  purifying  temptation  by  which  he  is  perfected. 

"JSTowwhat  does  a  fire  so  j)i'^pared  signify  to  a 
Parsee?  He  thinks  to  himself:  '  When  this  fire  on 
this  vase  before  me,  though  pure  in  itself,  though 
the  noblest  of  the  creations  of  God,  and  though  the 
best  symbol  of  the  divinity,  had  to  undergo  certain 
processes  of  purification,  had  to  draw  out,  as  it 
were,  its  essence  —  nay,  its  quintessence  —  of  purity 
to  enable  itself  to  be  worthy  of  occupying  this  ex- 
alted position;  how  much  more  necessary,  more 
essential,  and  more  important  it  is  for  me  —  a 
a  poor  mortal  who  is  liable  to  commit  sins  and 
crimes,  and  who  comes  into  contact  with  hundreds 
of  evils,  both  physical  and  mental —  to  undergo  the 
process  of  purity  and  piety  by  making  my  thoughts, 
words,  and  actions  pass,  as  it  were,  through  a  sieve 
of  piety  and  purity,  virtue  and  morality,  and  to 
separate  by  that  means  my  good  thoughts,  good 
words,  and  good  actions  from  bad  thoughts,  bad 
words,  and  bad  actions,  so  that  I  may  in  my  turn  be 
enabled  to  acquire  an  exalted  position  in  the  next 
world.'  Again,  the  fires  jDut  together  as  above  are 
collected  from  the  houses  of  men  of  different  grades 


A  RELIGIOUS   SYMPOSIUM.  203 

in  society.  This  reminds  a  Parsee  that,  as  all  these 
fires  from  the  Louses  of  men  of  different  grades  have 
all,  by  the  process  of  purification,  equally  acquired 
the  exalted  place  in  the  vase,  so  before  God  all  men 

—  no  matter  to  what  grades  of  society  they  belong 

—  are  equal,  provided  they  pass  through  the  process 
of  purification,  i.  e.,  provided  they  j)reserve  purity 
of  thoughts,  purity  of  words,  and  purity  of  deeds. 

"Again,  when  a  Parsee  goes  before  the  sacred  fire, 
which  is  kept  all  day  and  night  burning  in  the  fire 
temple,  the  officiating  x^riest  presents  before  him 
the  ashes  of  a  part  of  the  consumed  fire.  The  Par- 
see  applies  it  to  his  forehead  jusfc  as  a  Christian 
applies  the  consecrated  water  in  his  church,  and 
thinks  to  himself:  'Dust  to  dust.  The  fire,  all 
brilliant,  shining,  and  resplendent,  has  spread  the 
fragrance  of  the  sweet-smelling  sandal  and  frankin- 
cense round  about,  but  is  at  last  reduced  to  dust. 
So  it  is  destined  for  me.  After  all  I  am  to  be 
reduced  to  dust  and  have  to  depart  from  this  tran- 
sient life.  Let  me  do  my  best  to  spread,  like  this 
fire,  before  my  death,  the  fragrance  of  charity  and 
good  deeds  and  lead  the  light  of  righteousness  and 
knowledge  before  others.'  In  short,  the  sacred  fire 
burning  in  a  fire  temple  serves  as  a  perpetual  moni- 
tor to  a  Parsee  standing  before  it  to  preserve  piety, 
purity,  humility,  and  brotherhood." 

And  in  evidence  that  there  is  no  thought  of  a  sub- 
stitutional righteousness  in  connection  with  the  sym- 
bol, but  a  real  and  living  righteousness  to  be 
adopted  and  established  in  the  worshiper,  he  says: 


204 

' '  All  Parsee  prayers  begin  with  an  assurance  to  do 
acts  that  would  please  the  Almighty  God.  The 
assurance  is  followed  by  an  expression  of  regret  for 
past  evil  thoughts,  words,  or  deeds,  if  any.  Man  is 
liable  to  err,  and  so,  if  during  the  iaterval  any 
errors  of  commission  or  omission  are  comitted,  a 
Parsee  in  the  beginning  of  his  prayers  repents  for 
those  errors.     He  says: 

"  ^O  Omniscient  Lord!  I  repent  of  all  my  sins.  I 
repent  of  all  evil  thoughts  that  I  might  have  enter- 
tained in  my  mind,  of  all  the  evil  words  that  I  have 
spoken,  of  all  the  evil  actions  that  I  might  have 
committed.  O  Omniscient  Lord!  I  repent  of  all 
the  faults  that  might  have  originated  with  me, 
whether  they  refer  to  thoughts,  words,  or  deeds, 
whether  they  appertain  to  my  body  or  soul,  whether 
they  be  in  connection  with  the  material  world  or 
spiritual.'  " 

This  does  not  greatly  differ  in  its  ideal  from  what 
is  known  among  us  as  liberal  Christianity,  which 
holds  that  moral  conduct  when  performed  by 
man  in  acknowledgment  of  God,  and  in  harmony 
with  his  divine  and  all-pervading  life,  lias  a  spirit- 
ual value.  Thus  Prof.  C.  H.  Toy  of  Harvard  Uni- 
versity, in  a  paper  on  '^  Religion  and  Conduct," 
says: 

^'In  the  sphere  of  religion  the  two  sorts  of  sanc- 
tion are  what  we  call  natural  and  supernatural. 
The  laws  of  nature  may  be  considered  to  be  laws 
of  God,  and  the  natural  i3enalties  and  rewards  of 
life  to  be  divine  sanctions.     Obedience  to  these  laws 


A   RELIGIOUS   SYMPOSIUM.  205 

is  a  moral  act,  because  it  involves  control  of  self 
in  the  interest  of  organic  development;  but  super- 
natural sanctions  are  inorganic  and  non-moral,  since 
they  do  not  apjDeal  to  a  rational  self-control.  He 
who  is  honest  merely  to  escape  punishment  or 
receive  reward  fixed  by  external  law  is  not  honest  at 
all;  but  lie  who  observes  the  laws  of  health  or  of 
honesty  because  he  perceives  that  they  are  necessary 
to  the  well-being  of  the  world  is  also  religious  if  he 
recognizes  these  laws  as  the  ordination  of  God. 

"When  religious  sanctions  are  spoken  of  it  is 
commonly  the  supernatural  sort 'that  is  meant.  It 
is  an  interesting  question  how  far  the  belief  in  these 
is  now  morally  effective.  That  it  has  at  various 
times  been  influential  can  not  be  doubted.  In  the 
ancient  world  and  in  medieval  Europe  the  deity  was 
believed  to  intervene  supernaturally  in  this  life  for 
the  protection  of  innocence  and  the  punishment  of 
wickedness;  but  this  belief  appears  to  be  vanishing 
and  can  not  be  called  an  effective  moral  force  at  the 
present  day.  Men  think  of  reward  and  punishment 
as  belonging  to  the  future,  and  this  conception  is 
IDrobably  of  some  weight;  yet  its  practical  impor- 
tance is  much  diminished  by  the  distance  and  the 
dimness  of  the  day  of  reckoning.  The  average  man 
has  too  little  imagination  to  realize  the  remote  fut- 
ure. At  the  critical  moment  it  is  usually  passion  or 
the  present  advantage  that  controls  action. 

"It  is  also  true  that  the  supernatural  side  of  the 
belief  in  future  retribution  is  passing  away;  it  is 
becoming  more  and  more  the  conviction  of  the 
religious  world  that  the  future  life  must  be  mor- 


206 

ally  the  continuation  and  consequence  of  tlie  pres- 
ent. This  must  be  esteemed  a  great  gain  —  it  tends 
to  banish  the  mechanical  and  emphasize  tlie  ethical 
element  in  life  and  to  raise  religion  to  the  plane  of 
rationality.  Rational  religious  morality  is  obedi- 
ence to  the  laws  of  nature  as  laws  of  God. 

*'Weare  thus  led  to  the  other  side  of  religion, 
communion  with  God  as  the  effective  source  of 
religious  influence  on  conduct.  It  is  this,  in  the 
first  place,  that  gives  eternal  validity  to  the  laws  of 
right.  Resting  on  conscience  and  the  constitution  of 
society,  these  laws  may  be  in  themselves  obligatory 
on  the  world  of  men,  but  they  acquire  a  universal 
character  only  when  we  remember  that  human 
nature  itself  is  an  effluence  of  the  divine,  and  that 
human  experience  is  the  divine  self-revelation. 

''Further,  the  consciousness  of  the  divine  presence 
should  be  the  most  potent  factor  in  man's  moral 
life.  The  thought  of  the  ultimate  basis  of  life, 
incomprehensible  in  his  essence  yet  known  through 
his  self-outputting  in  the  world  as  the  ideal  of 
right,  as  a  comrade  of  man  in  moral  life,  should  be, 
if  received  into  the  soul  as  a  living  every-day  fact, 
such  a  purifying  and  uplifting  influence  as  no  merely 
human  relationship  has  ever  engendered. 

"  The  true  power  of  religion,"  he  concludes,  '4ies 
in  the  contact  between  the  divine  soul  and  the  soul 
of  man.  It  must  be  admitted  that  to  attain  this  is 
no  easy  thing.  To  feel  the  reality  of  a  divine  per- 
sonality in  the  universe,  to  value  this  personality  as 
the  ideal  of  justice  and  love,  to  keep  the  image  of  it 
fresh  and  living  in  the  mind  day  by  day  in  the 


\  A  RELIGIOUS  SYMPOSIUM.  207 

midst  of  the  throng  of  petty  and  serious  cares  of 
life,  demands  an  imaginative  power  and  a  force  of 
will  rarely  found  among  men.  It  is  in  this  power 
that  the  great  creative  religious  minds  have  excelled. 
The  mass  of  religious  people  are  controlled  by  lower 
considerations,  and  never  reach  the  plane  of  pure 
religious  feeling.  Most  men  look  to  God  as  their 
helper  in  physical  things,  or  as  an  outside  law-giver, 
rather  than  as  their  comrade  in  moral  struggle. 
Thus  religion  has  not  come  to  its  rights  in  the 
world;  it  still  occupies,  as  a  rule,  the  low  plane  of 
early  non-moral  thought;  but  is  there  any  reason 
why  it  should  continue  in  this  inferior  plane  ^  Is 
there  anything  to  prevent  our  living  in  moral  con- 
tact with  the  soul  of  the  world,  and  thence  deriving 
the  inspiration  and  strength  we  need  ?  What  has 
been  done  by  some  may  be  done  in  a  measure  by  all. 
Inadequate  conceptions  of  God  and  of  the  moral 
life  must  be  swept  away,  the  free  activity  of  the 
human  soul  must  be  recognized  and  relied  on,  the 
habit  of  contemplation  of  the  ideal  must  be  culti- 
vated; we  must  feel  ourselves  to  be  literally  and 
truly  co-workers  with  God.  In  the  presence  of  such 
a  (5bmraunion  would  not  moral  evil  be  powerless 
over  man  ?  Finally,  we  here  have  a  conception  of 
religion  in  which  almost  all,  perhaps  all,  the  systems 
of  the  world  may  agree.     It  is  our  hope  of  unity." 

Still,  on  the  other  hand,  it  is  contended  that  all 
the  systems  of  the  world  show  man's  need  of  a 
divine  reconciliation.  The  old  doctrine  of  a  substi- 
tutional sacrifice  and  vicarious  atonement  was  set 


208 

forth  by  Rev.  Dr.  Kennedy,  in  a  paper  on  ^' The 
Redemption  of  Sinful  Man  tlirough  Jesus  Christ," 
with  great  frankness.  Of  tlie  fall,  and  its  effects, 
he  says:  "Adam  of  his  own  free  will  upset  the  first 
order  of  God's  providence,  and  he  now  came  under 
another  order;  he  had  been  innocent  and  just, 
he  was  now  a  guilty  and  fallen  man;  he  could  not 
enter  into  heaven^  and  he  was  doomed  to  suffer  the 
other  miseries  brought  on  by  his  own  sin  until  God 
saw  fit  to  send  him  a  Redeemer.  He  no  doubt 
soon  repented  of  his  sin;  and  if  he  returned  to  God 
with  a  sincerely  contrite  heart  the  guilt  would  be 
remitted  and  he  would  not  be  punished  eternally 
for  it.  But  he  was  powerless  to  repair  the  injury 
done,  because  the  gifts  and  graces  he  had  lost  were 
gratuitous  favors,  not  due  to  his  nature,  but  granted 
through  pure  love  and  goodness  by  God;  hence 
their  restoration  was  subject  to  his  good  pleasure. 

'^  Unfortunately  for  us  this  fall  of  the  father  of  the 
human  race  affected  his  posterity.  The  perfections 
of  original  justice  would  have  passed  to  his  descend- 
ants had  he  remained  faithful,  but  he  failed  to  com- 
ply with  the  conditions  on  which  they  had.  been 
granted,  and,  having  lost  them  himself,  he  comld 
not  transmit  them  to  his  children.  In  consequence 
of  his  sin  we  too  were  deprived  of  the  supernatural 
perfections  that  he  possessed.  Though  not  guilty 
of  any  actual  personal  sins,  the  children  of  Adam 
are,  as  St.  Paul  says  (Epli.  ii,  3),  'by  nature 
children  of  wrath  ' ;  they  are  displeasing  in  the  sight 
of  God,  because  he  does  not  see  in  their  souls  the 
graces,  virtues,  and  perfections  he  had  intended  for 


A    RELIGIOUS   SYMPOSIUM.  209 

all,  and  of  which  they  were  deprived  through  the 
fault  of  Adam  by  an  act  in  which  he  was  morally 
the  representative  of  the  human  race.  This  is 
what  is  meant  by  original  sin;  at  least  this  is  the 
explanation  of  its  essence  given  by  the  majority  of 
theologians;  and  if  any  one  tries  to  see  in  original 
sin  as  taught  by  the  church  a  personal  act  by  wdiich 
men  offend  God,  lie  will  not  succeed,  because  it  is 
not  a  personal  sin ;  it  is  the  habitual  state  displeas- 
ing to  God  in  which  the  souls  of  men  are  left  since 
the  father  of  the  human  race  offended  God  by  an 
act  of  proud  disobedience. 

"With  the  supernatural  grace  the  preternatural 
gifts  were  also  lost.  We  became  subject  to  death, 
not  only  as  to  a  law  of  nature  but  also  as  a  i3enalty, 
for  'by  one  man  sin  entered  into  this  world,  and  by 
sin  death,  and  so  death  passed  upon  all  men,  in 
whom  all  have  sinned.'  (Rom.  v,  12.)  We  also 
experience  the  stings  of  conscience,  the  war  of  the 
liesh  against  the  spirit,  which  would,  in  the  benevo- 
lent designs  of  jDrovidence,  have  been  prevented  by 
the  subjection  of  the  mind  to  grace.  Our  nature, 
also,  was  wounded,  like  the  nature  of  Adam,  with 
the  three  wounds  of  ignorance,  weakness,  and  pas- 
sion. Then  began  the  rule  of  him  who  had  the 
empire  of  death,  that  is  to  say,  the  devil  (Heb.  ii, 
14),  which  was  to  last  until  Christ  came  to  destroy 
that  empire  by  his  death.  St.  Augustine,  in  one 
of  his  sermons,  calls  this  unhappy  condition  a  sick- 
ness of  human  nature  that  had  spread  over  the  face 
of  the  earth,  'Magnus  per  orhem  jacebat  cegrotus.'' 
And  in  another  place  he  says  that  in  consequence  of 

14 


210  woeld's  religious  congeesses. 

sin,  the  nature  of  man,  which  should  have  been  a 
beautiful  olive  tree  planted  and  watered  and  nur- 
tured by  the  hand  of  God,  and  bearing  fruits  for 
eternity,  became  a  miserable  oleaster,  contemptible 
and  disagreeable  by  the  ugliness  of  its  appearance 
and  the  bitterness  of  its  false  fruits.  The  work 
of  the  gardener  had  been  interfered  with  and  man 
was  condemned  to  taste  the  bitter  fruits  of  his  own 
planting.  He  was  displeasing  to  God  and  he  needed 
some  one  who  could  reconcile  him  with  the  heavenly 
Father  by  atoning  for  his  sins;  he  had  lost  the  grace 
of  God,  and  of  himself  could  not  recover  it;  he  was 
a  slave  under  the  power  of  Satan,  and  stood  in  need 
of  a  redeemer." 

Expounding  the  plan  of  redemption,  he  continues: 
''In  the  lirst  place,  it  must  be  borne  in  mind  that 
God  could,  if  he  willed^  have  chosen  another  method 
of  redemption.  Being  Lord  of  all  things,  he  might 
have  condoned  Adam' s  offense  and  restored  to  man 
his  lost  prerogatives  without  demanding  any  atone- 
ment. He  might,  if  he  willed,  have  accepted  in 
satisfaction  for  sin  the  salutary  penances  of  Adam 
or  of  some  of  his  descendants.  But,  says  St.  Atha- 
nasius,  in  this  we  must  consider  not  what  God  could 
have  done,  but  what  was  best  for  man,  for  that  was 
chosen.  Away  then  with  all  thoughts  of  excessive 
rigor  on  the  part  of  God.  He  willed  to  redeem  and 
save  us  through  the  sufferings  and  merits  of  Christ, 
because  it  was  better  for  us;  and  at  the  same  time 
he  gave  to  the  world  the  greatest  manifestation  ever 
known  of  his  own  goodness,  power,  wisdom,  and 


A  RELIGIOUS   SYMPOSIUM.  211 

justice,  as  we  are  told  by  St.  John  Damascene 
and  St.  Thomas  Aquinas  —  two  princes  of  the- 
ology. This  plan  of  redemption  was  freely  and  lov- 
ingly accepted  by  the  second  person  of  the  trinity, 
and  the  Son  came  into  the  world  in  the  form  of  man 
that  he  might  be  our  Saviour;  and  as  a  Saviour  he 
manifested  himself  from  the  first  moment  of  his 
incarnation  until  the  day  of  his  ascension;  a  Saviour 
he  is  still,  for  as  St.  Paul  tells  us  (Rom.  viii,  34), 
sitting  now  at  the  right  hand  of  God  he  continually 
intercedes  for  us,  ojffering  to  the  Father  in  our 
behalf  his  superabundant  merits.  He  was  a  Saviour 
by  his  teaching,  by  his  example,  and  by  his  death. 
The  prophet  Isaiah  had  foretold,  800  years  before 
his  birth:  '  Behold,  I  have  given  him  for  a  witness 
before  the  people,  for  a  leader  and  for  a  master  to 
the  Gentiles'  (Iv,  4);  and  when  he  came,  after  he 
had  been  baptized  by  St.  John,  the  Father' s  voice 
from  the  clouds  announced  that  he  was  the  divinely 
appointed  teacher  of  m ankind :  '  This  is  m y  beloved 
Son,  in  whom  I  am  well  i)leased;  hear  ye  him  '  (Matt, 
xvii,  5),  and  St.  Peter  afterward  proposed  that 
his  Master's  doctrine  was  heavenly  and  salutary: 
'  Thou,  O  Lord,  hath  the  words  of  eternal  life '  (John 
vi,  69)." 

Then,  of  the  efficacy  of  Christ's  death,  he  says: 
''Thenitw^as  that  our  Saviour  consented  to  be  a 
voluntary  victim  offered  up  in  expiation  for  the  sins 
of  the  world.  '  The  Word  was  made  flesh  and  dwelt 
amongst  us'  (John  i,  14);  Christ  came  into  the 
world,  true  God  and  true  man.     Being  man,  he  could 


212  world's  religious  congresses. 

suffer;  being  God,  anyone  of  his  actions  would  have 
infinite  value  both  for  merit  and  for  atonement. 
'  God  laid  on  him  the  iniquity  of  us  all,'  says  Isaiah 
(liii,  6);  by  his  death  God's  justice  was  satisfied 
and  man  was  redeemed;  for,  says  St.  Peter  (I  Ep. 
i,  18),  we  were  '  not  redeemed  with  corruptible  things, 
as  gold  and  silver,  but  with  the  i^recious  blood  of 
Christ,  as  of  a  lamb  unspotted  and  undefiled.'  Thus 
was  blotted  out  the  handwriting  of  the  decree  that 
was  against  us  (Col.  ii,  14).  By  his  death  Christ 
not  only  freed  us  from  evil,  he  also  merited  for  us 
the  graces  we  need  in  order  that  we  may  do  good, 
performing  actions  meritorious  of  eternal  life. 
Without  Christ  we  can  do  nothing  (John  xv,  5). 
All  those  who  were  saved  under  the  old  law  were 
saved  through  faith  in  the  Redeemer  to  come;  grace 
was  granted  to  them  owing  to  his  foreseen  merits. 
In  the  new  law  all  our  sufficiency  is  from  him  (II 
Cor.  ii,  3);  all  graces  are  granted,  as  we  ask  them, 
'  through  the  merits  of  our  Lord  and  Saviour  Jesus 
Christ.'  He  merited  these  graces  for  us  by  all  the 
acts  of  his  life,  but  principally  by  dying  for  us;  the 
precious  blood  shed  on  Calvary  flows  through  the 
church;  it  vivifies  the  sacraments,  the  channels  of 
grace,  by  partaking  of  which  we  drink  from  that 
'  fountain  of  water  springing  into  life  everlasting ' 
(Johniv,  14)."  \r-'    "- 

Equally  orthodox,  but  carrying  the  discussion  into 
the  realm  of  the  effect  in  man  of  the  acceptance  of 
Christ' s  sacrifice,  Avas  the  address  of  Walter  Elliott, 
of  the  Paulist  Convent,  New  York,  from  which  we 


A   RELIGIOUS   SYMPOSIUM.  213 

cite  the  following  as  showing  the  orthodox  ideal  of 
the  atonement,  arbitrary  though  the  means  may 
seem,  is  with  some,  at  least,  conceived  as  a  real  and 
living  union  of  the  soul  with  God: 

"  'The  justilication  of  a  wicked  man  is  his  trans- 
lation from  the  state  in  which  man  is  born  as  a 
son  of  the  first  Adam  into  the  state  of  grace  and 
adoption  of  the  sons  of  God  by  the  second  Adam, 
Jesus  Clirist,  our  Saviour.'  These  words  of  the 
Council  of  Trent  affirm  that  the  boon  of  God' s  favor 
is  not  merely  restoration  to  humanity's  natural 
innocence.  God's  friendship  for  man  is  elevation 
to  a  state  higher  than  nature's  highest,  and  infinitely 
so,  and  yet  a  dignity  toward  which  all  men  are 
drawn  by  the  unseen  attraction  of  divine  grace  and 
toward  which  in  their  better  moments  they  con- 
sciously strive,  however  feebly  and  blindly.  Re- 
ligion, as  understood  by  Christianity,  means  new 
life  for  man,  different  life,  additional  life.  The 
Christian  mind  is  thus  to  be  discovered  and  tested 
by  comparison  with  the  highest  standard:  '  Be  ye 
perfect,  as  your  heavenly  Father  is  perfect.' 

"  Before  coming  to  the  ways  and  means  and  proc- 
esses of  acquiring  this  divine  life  we  must  consider 
atonement  for  sin.  It  may  be  asked.  Why  does 
Christ  elevate  us  to  union  with  his  Father  through 
suffering  ?  The  answer  is  that  God  is  dealing  with 
a  race  which  has  degraded  itself  with  rebellion  and 
with  crime,  which  naturally  involves  suffering. 
God's  purpose  is  now  just  what  it  was  in  the  begin- 
ning, to  communicate  himself  to  each  human  being, 
and  to  do  it  personally,   elevating  men  to  brother- 


214 

hood  with  his  own  divine  Son,  making  them  par- 
takers of  tlie  same  grace  which  dwells  in  the  soul  of 
Christ,  and  sharers  hereafter  in  the  same  blessed- 
ness which  he  possesses  with  the  Father.  To  accom- 
plish this  purpose  God  originally  constituted  man 
in  a  supernatural  condition  of  divine  favor.  That 
lost  by  sin,  God,  by  an  act  of  grace  yet  more  signal, 
places  his  Son  in  the  circumstances  of  humiliation 
and  suffering  due  to  sin.  This  is  the  order  of  atone 
ment,  a  word  which  has  come  to  signify  a  mediation 
through  suffering,  although  the  etymological  mean- 
ing of  it  is  bringing  together  into  one.  Mediation 
is  now,  as  ever  before,  the  constant  and  final  pur- 
pose of  God's  loving  dealing  with  us. 

"  Religion  is  positive.  It  makes  me  good  with 
Christ's  goodness.  Religion  does  essentially  more  \ 
than  rid  me  of  evil.  In  the  mansions  of  the  Father,  ^ 
sorrow  opens  the  outer  door  of  the  atrium  in  which 
I  am  pardoned,  and  love  leads  to  the  throne  room. 
If  forgiveness  and  union  be  distinct,  it  is  only  as 
we  think  of  them,  for  to  God  they  are  one.  And  this 
is  to  be  noted:  all  infants  who  pass  into  heaven 
through  the  laver  of  regeneration  have  had  no  con- 
scious experience  of  any  kind,  and  yet  will  enjoy 
the  union  of  filiation  forever.  'Nov  can  it  be  denied 
that  there  are  multitudes  of  adults  whose  sanctifica- 
tion  has  had  no  conscious  process  of  the  remission 
of  grave  sin,  for  many  such  have  never  been  guilty 
of  it.  To  excite  them  to  a  fictitious  sense  of  sinfulness 
is  untruthful,  unjust,  and  unchristian.  Hounding 
innocent  souls  into  the  company  of  demons  is  false 
zeal  and  is  cruel.     The  expiation   of    sin  is  the 


A   RELIGIOUS   SYMPOSIUM.  215 

removal  of  an  obstacle  to  our  union  with  God. 
Nothing  hinders  the  progress  of  guileless  or  repent- 
ant souls,  even  their  peace  of  mind,  more  than  prev- 
alent misconceptions  on  this  point.  Freed  from 
sin  many  fall  under  the  delusion  that  all  is  done; 
not  to  commit  sin  is  assumed  to  be  the  end  of 
religion.  In  reality  pardon  is  but  the  initial  work 
of  grace,  and  even  j)ardon  is  not  possible  without 
the  gift  of  love.  The  sufferings  of  Christ  as  well  as 
whatever  is  of  a  penitential  influence  in  his  religion 
are  not  in  the  nature  of  merely  paying  a  penalty,  but 
is  chiefly  an  offering  of  love.  Atonement  is  related 
to  mediation  as  its  condition  and  not  as  its  essence. 
We  are  washed  in  the  Redeemer's  blood,  but  that 
blood  does  not  remain  on  the  surface;  it  penetrates 
us  and  sanctifies  our  own  blood,  mingling  with  it. 
We  are  not  ransomed  only,  but  ennobled.  The 
process  on  man's  i^art  of  union  with  God  is  free  and 
loving  acceptance  of  all  liis  invitations,  inner  and 
outer,  natural  and  revealed,  organic  and  personal. 
Loving  God  is  the  practical  element  in  our  recep- 
tion of  the  Holy  Spirit.  The  fruition  of  love  is 
union  with  ihe  beloved.  If  to  be  regenerated  means 
to  be  born  of  God,  then  Avhat  is  to  be  sought  after  is 
newness  of  life  by  the  immediate  contact  with  life's 
source  and  center  in  love.  The  perfection  of  any 
finite  being  is  the  closest  possible  identity  with  its 
ideal.  The  supreme  end  and  office  of  religion  is  to 
cause  men  by  love  personally  to  approximate  to  the 
ideal,  not  merely  of  humanity,  but  of  humanity 
made  one  with  the  Deity." 


216 

The  objection  to  this  idea  of  the  divine  govern- 
ment and  plan  of  atonement  has  always  been  its 
ideal  of  God.  It  presupposes  that  he  needs  to  be 
reconciled  and  ajjpeased  and  his  government  vindi- 
cated; whereas  the  apostle  declares,  "God  was  in 
Christ  reconciling  the  world  unto  himself."  The 
problem  with  most  minds  is,  How  did  God  in 
Christ  redeem  mankind  from  the  great  w^eight  and 
bondage  of  evil,  and  how  does  he  carry  over  to 
man  the  power  of  his  life  and  work  so  as  to  be  in 
man  a  real  and  vital  reconciliation  and  union  with 
God? 

On  this  point  the  paper  of  the  Rev.  Theodore  F. 
Wright,  Ph.  D.,  of  Cambridge  will  be  read  with 
interest,  and  by  many  with  satisfaction,  as  present- 
ing a  view  of  the  subject  distinctive  from  the 
orthodox  and  from  the  moral  influence  theory  of 
atonement,  and  one  which  makes  the  statement  of 
his  subject  signiflcant.  His  subject  was  "Recon- 
ciliation Vital,  not  Vicarious." 

"There  are  certain  dicta  of  Scripture,"  he  said, 
"which  are  universal  because  fundamental  and 
fundamental  because  universal.  One  of  these  is 
that  saying  of  the  Apostle  John,  '  God  is  love; 
and  he  that  dwelleth  in  love  dwelleth  in  God,  and 
God  in  him.'  Once  of  sympathies  so  narrow  that 
he  was  for  bringing  fire  from  heaven  down  upon  a 
village  which  would  not  receive  his  Lord  as  he 
journeyed,  he  was  now  so  tenderly  conscious  of  the 
infinite  love  which  had  sought  him  out  and 
gathered  him  that  he  could  say:  'He  that  loveth 
not  knoweth  not  God,  for  God  is  love;  beloved,  if 


A   RELIGIOUS   SYMPOSIUM.  217 

God  so  love  us,  we  also  ought  to  love  one  another.' 
John  had  attained  to  this  conviction  by  the  process 
of  religious  experience.  Others  have  seen  the  same 
infinite  fact  written  in  vernal  fields  and  ripening 
harvests.  Others  find  it  in  the  intricate  harmony 
of  natural  forces.  They  all  see  tliat  there  is  as  the 
center  and  source  of  life  a  fountain  of  fatherliness 
which  is  ever  begetting  and  nurturing,  so  that, 
indeed,  we  can  not  conceive  of  the  idle  God,  the 
neglectful  God,  or  the  God  of  limited  interests.^ 
Our  minds  will  not  work  until  we  place  before  them 
the  ever-creating  God,  who  neither  slumbers  nor 
sleeps;  the  ever  present  help.  '  Perad venture  he 
sleepeth '  might  be  said  of  Baal,  for  there  was  no 
answer;  but  when  Elijah  called  on  the  God  of 
Abraham,  of  Isaac,  and  of  Israel,  'the  fire  of  the 
Lord  'fell.'  It  is  in  the  light  of  this  fact  of  the 
universal  divine  love  that  the  fallen  condition  of 
man  finds  its  remedy  disclosed.  There  may  have 
been  a  time  when  this  light  was  so  dim  that 
Judaism  fancied  its  God  a  partisan,  and  a  regressive 
Christianity  thought  that  it  had  ascertained  the 
limits  of  the  divine  care,  but  now  we  know  that 
God  is  one,  and  that  '  his  tender  mercies  are  over 
all  his  work.'  This  being  so,  it  is  true  to  say  that 
fallen  man  was  succored  by  the  same  love  that 
created  him.  The  father  of  the  prodigal  does  not 
sulk  in  his  tent  while  some  elder  brother  is  left. to 
search  out  the  wanderer  and  bring  him  in,  pointing 
to  the  wounds  he  got  in  rescuing  him  as  a  means  of 
softening  the  heart  of  the  father;  nay,  the  father 
watches  the  pathway  with  longings,  and  sends  his 


218 

love  after  the  boj^,  and  when  the  wayward  one  is 
yet  a  great  way  off,  he  sees,  he  hath  compassion,  he 
runs,  he  falls  on  his  neck,  he  kisses  him ;  he  bids 
them  bring  the  robe,  the  ring,  the  shoes,  the  fatted 
calf;  he  reproves  the  cold  vindictiveness  of  the  elder 
brother;  he  is  all  shepherd-like. 

"We  need  not  dogmatize  as  to  the  fallen  state  of 
man.  Intellectually  man  has  not  fallen.  He  is  as 
bright  as  he  ever  was.  He  is  growing  brighter. 
The  evolution  of  the  intellect  is  indisputable.  But 
*as  to  the  will,  what  is  man?  Is  he  the  worshiping 
child  that  he  once  was?  Does  he  eagerly  do  the  % 
truth  he  learns  or  does  he  find  it  necessary  to  com- 
pel himself  to  do  it  ?  There  is  a  degree  of  igno- 
rance, of  illiteracy,  but  it  is  easy  to  find  a  remedy 
for  it  in  the  common  school.  There  is  on  every  side 
a  spectacle  of  lust,  and  greed,  and  indolence,  and 
selfishness,  and  our  schools  touch  it  not.  We  are 
making  men  shrewd,  but  we  are  not  making  them 
good.  The  human  mind  wants  reaching  in  its 
depths.  The  motives  behind  our  thinking  want 
renewal,  else  mind-life  is  like  John  RandoliDlrs 
mackerel  in  the  moonlight,  which  stank  as  it  shone. 
So  was  man  in  the  sad  days  of  Roman  sensuality 
and  Jewish  hypocrisy,  and  so  do  our  daily  chroni- 
cles testify  to-day.  The  cure  for  the  lost  sheep  is 
to  seek  for  it  till  it  is  found.  '  All  we  like  sheep 
have  gone  astray;  we  have  turned  every  one  to  his 
own  way.'  (Is.  liii,  6.)  The  question  is,  How 
should  the  divine  love  accomplish  the  purpose  with 
which  it  must  be  teeming  —  the  recovery  of  the  lost 
state?    Our  answer  is  in  general  to  say  that  the 


A   RELIGIOUS   SYMPOSIUM.  219 

remedy  was  within  the  keeping  of  the  infinite  love 
and  wisdom  which  had  so  far  made  and  conducted 
man,  or  we  must  hold  some  view  which  limits  the 
Holy  One  of  Israel.  If  God  would  come  with  any 
mercy  he  must  descend  to  the  place  of  the  fallen. 
If  he  would  conquer  the  evil  without  destroying 
them,  he  must  contend  with  them  on  their  own 
plane.  To  take  upon  himself  the  nature  born  of 
woman  would  be  his  means  of  redemption.  He 
must  take  on  the  office  of  Joshua,  who  led  the 
people  out  of  the  wilderness  into  their  inheritance. 
And  a  virgin  conceived  and  bore  a  son,  and  called 
his  name  Jesus  —  that  is,  Joshua.  The  Wisdom  or 
Word  of  God  was  made  flesh,  so  that  we  behold  the 
glory  of  the  Father.  It  was  the  Father  in  the  Son 
who  did  the  works.  How  marvelously  clear  are 
the  prophetic  songs  of  Mary  and  Zacharias.  She 
said:  '  My  spirit  hath  rejoiced  in  God,  my  Saviour. 
He  hath  showed  strength  with  his  arm.  He  hath 
holpen  his  servant,  Israel,  in  remembrance  of  his 
mercy,  as  he  spake  to  our  fathers.'  And  the  father 
of  the  forerunner  said:  'Blessed  be  the  Lord  God  of 
Israel,  for  he  hath  visited  and  redeemed  his  people; 
that  we,  being  delivered  out  of  the  hands  of  our 
enemies,  might  serve  him  without  fear  all  the  days 
of  our  life;  the  day-spring  from  on  high  hath  visited 
us,  to  give  light  to  them  that  sit  in  darkness  and  the 
shadow  of  death,  to  guide  our  feet  in  the  way  of 
peace.'  Therefore  John  the  BaiDtist proclaimed  him 
as  '  the  Lamb  of  God  that  taketli  away  the  sin  of  the 
world,'  and  therefore  he  bade  his  hearers  j)repare 
the  way  of  Jehovah,  and  make  straight  his  path. 


220 

"  Born  of  woman,  and  so  open  to  every  tempta- 
tion, he  was  early  led  to  find  the  written  word,  his 
light  of  life.  He  went  about  his  father's  business 
by  expounding  it.  Tried  in  the  wilderness,  he  made 
no  other  answer  than  the  lav\^.  Going  about  doing 
good,  he  healed  the  sick  and  gave  sight  to  the  blind, 
and  brought  good  tidings  to  the  meek.  At  Jerusa- 
lem he  cleansed  the  temple  of  its  corruption,  even  as 
he  was  daily  rendering  his  own  nature  the  temple  of 
God.  The  inevitable  conflict  was  not  shunned.  The 
perceived  unfaithfulness  of  many  did  not  provoke  a  \ 
word  of  resentment.  The  attempts  of  habitual  sin- 
ners of  this  world  and  the  other  to  overthrow  him 
failed  again  and  again,  but  it  was  inevitable  that 
there  must  be  a  last  and  most  direful  assault.  He 
foresaw  it ;  but  behold  the  conduct  of  infinite  love  ! 
He  bathed  his  disciples'  feet  in  order  to  teach  them 
the  new  commandment  of  love  to  one  another.  He 
bade  them  be  not  troubled,  and  spoke  of  the  peace 
he  had  to  give  to  them.  He  chastened  himself  in 
the  garden.  On  his  way  to  the  cross  he  asked  them 
to  weep  rather  for  themselves  than  for  him.  He 
gave  the  mother  a  son  to  care  for  her  old  age.  To 
perjured  Peter  his  answer  had  been  but  a  look.  To 
the  false  accusations  he  had  been  dumb.  For  his 
love  they  were  his  adversaries,  but  he  gave  himself 
unto  prayer.  Rising  again,  he  came  with  indescrib- 
able gentleness  to  the  recognition  of  Mary  Magda- 
lene. To  the  two  discouraged  disciples  he  was  all 
patience.  To  doubting  Thomas  he  was  infinitely 
condescending.  As  he  stood  there,  for  the  time 
made  visible  to  their  spiritual  sight,  having  entered 


A   RELIGIOUS   SYMPOSIUM.  221 

where  the  doors  were  shut,  he  was  the  embodi- 
ment of  prophecy  fulfilled,  of  divine  love  triumph- 
ant. He  was,  he  is,  '  Our  Lord  and  our  God,'  '  the 
brightness  of  his  glory,  the  express  image  of  his 
person.' 

' '  This  is  no  merely  vicarious  act  of  a  subordinate 
or  additional  person  of  God.  It  was  the  act  of  God 
himself  to  restore  the  vital  union  between  man  and 
himself,  that  union  which  man  had  severed  by 
increasing  self-assertion,  waywardness,  and  wicked- 
ness, and  which  could  only  be  renewed  by  contri- 
tion and  return  and  reconciliation.  In  the  case  of 
the  man  healed  of  his  blindness,  in  the  ninth  chapter 
of  John,  we  have  first  the  evil  condition,  then  the 
remedy  offered,  next  the  remedy  accepted,  at  once 
the  cure  effected,  and  finally  a  vital  union  of  safety 
for  him  established  with  the  Lord,  as  shown  by  his 
saying,  'Lord,  I  believe,'  and  by  his  worshiping 
him.  In  more  difficult  cases,  as  we  know  by  some 
experience,  the  knowledge  of  the  remedy  may  be 
cold  and  unfruitful  in  the  memory  until  in  seeking 
to  lead  a  less  selfish  life,  to  be  worthy  of  a  loving 
wife  or  a  trusting  child,  or  to  consecrate  our  lives  in 
full  to  the  Lord's  service,  we  begin  to  form  new 
motives  with  the  divine  aid;  to  hate  what  we  once 
wickedly  loved,  and  to  love  what  we  once  wickedly 
hated;  and  so,  little  by  little,  born  from  above,  a 
new  heart  is  formed  with  in  us,  and  we  come  to  act  as 
faithful  rather  than  as  unfaithful  servants  of  the 
Lord,  as  friends  rather  than  as  enemies.  So  do 
we  cease  to  do  evil  and  learn  to  do  well,  if  we 
will.     Thus  we  may  see  that  the  will  and  the  power 


222  world's  religious  congresses. 

to  rescue  and  to  reconcile  wayward  souls  sprang 
from  the  intinite  love;  that  the  method  is  that  of 
the  divine  order,  and  that  the  result  in  the  individ- 
ual redeemed  through  repentance  and  regeneration 
is  just  what  man's  fallen  state  required  and  requires. 
It  is  preciselj'-  as  Paul  said:  'Gfod  was  in  Christ 
reconciling  of  the  w^orld  unto  himself.'  (II  Cor.  v, 
19.)  And  again  he  said:  '  In  him  dwelleth  ali  the 
fullness  of  the  Godhead  bodily.'  (Col.  xi,  9.)  'Sve 
dwell  in  him,'  said  John  once  more,  '  and  he  in  us; 
we  loved  him  because  he  first  loved  us. '  '  This  is 
the  true  God  and  eternal  life.' 

"  '  That  uncreated  beauty,  which  has  gained 
My  raptured  heart,  has  all  my  glory  stained; 
His  loveliness  my  soul  has  prepossessed, 
And  left  no  room  for  any  other  guest.'  " 

KEVELATIOJN^  AND   THE  SCRIPTURES. 

If  we  turn  to  the  subject  of  revelation  we  find 
abundant  testimony  to  the  universality  of  belief  in 
revelation  of  some  sort  from  God  to  man.  An 
interesting  descriptive  and  illustrative  paper  on 
"The  Sacred  Books  of  the  World  as  Literature" 
was  furnished  by  Prof.  Milton  S.  Terry,  D.  D.,  who 
said  in  appeal  for  a  larger  study  of  all  sacred  litera- 
tures: "I  am  a  Christian,  and  must  needs  look  at 
things  from  a  Christian  j)oint  of  view;  but  that 
fact  should  not  hinder  the  broadest  observation. 
Christian  scholars  have  for  centuries  admired  the 
poems  of  Homer,  and  will  never  lose  interest  in  the 
story  of  Odysseus,  the  myriad-minded  Greek,  who 
traversed  the  roaring  seas,  touched  many  a  foreign 


A   RELIGIOUS   SYMPOSIUM.  223 

shore,  and  observed  the  habitations  and  customs  of 
many  men.  Will  they  be  likely  to  discard  the 
recently  deciphered  Accadian  hymns  and  Assyidan 
penitential  p>salms  ?  Is  it  probable  that  men  who 
can  devote  studious  years  to  the  philosophy  of  Plato 
and  Aristotle  will  care  nothing  about  the  invoca- 
tions of  the  old  Persian  Avesta,  tlie  Yedic  hymns, 
the  doctrines  of  Buddha,  and  the  maxims  of  Confu- 
cius? Nay,  I  repeat  it,  I  am  a  Christian;  therefore 
I  think  there  is  nothing  human  or  divine  in  any  lit- 
erature of  the  world  that  I  can  afford  to  ignore." 

Beginning  with  a  quotation  from  the  Chinese  on 
creation  and  setting  in  comparison  with  citations 
from  the  Vedas,  and  referring  to  the  Scandinavian 
Edda,  and  the  Chaldean  account  of  creation,  he 
says:  "As  theologians  we  naturally  study  these 
theosophic  poems  with  reference  to  their  oxigin  and 
relationship.  But  we  now  call  attention  to  the 
place  they  hold  in  the  sacred  literatures  of  the 
world.  Each  composition  bears  the  marks  of  an 
individual  genius.  He  may,  aud  probably  does,  in 
every  case  express  the  current  belief  or  tradition  of 
his  nation,  but  his  description  reveals  a  human  mind 
wrestling  with  the  mysterious  problems  of  the 
world,  and  suggesting,  if  not  announcing,  some 
solution.  As  specimens  of  literature  the  various 
poems  of  creation  exhibit  a  world-wide  taste  and 
tendency  to  cast  in  poetic  form  the  profoundest 
thoughts  which  busy  the  human  soul." 

Speaking  of  the  scriptures  of  Buddhism  he  gives 
some  interesting  facts:  "The  sacred  scrix)tures  of 
Buddhism    comprise    three    immense    collections 


224  world's  religious  congresses. 

known  as  the  Tripitaka,  or  'three  baskets.'  One  of 
these  contains  the  discourses  of  Buddha,  another 
treats  of  doctrines  and  metaphysics,  and  another  is 
devoted  to  ethics  and  discipline.  In  bulk  these 
writings  rival  all  that  was  ever  included  under  the 
title  of  Veda,  and  contain  more  than  seven  times  the 
amount  of  matter  in  the  Scriptures  of  the  Old  and 
New  Testaments.  The  greater  portion  of  this  exten- 
sive literature,  in  the  most  ancient  texts,  exists  as 
yet  only  in  manuscript.  But  as  Buddhism  spread 
and  triumphed  mightily  in  Southern  and  Eastern 
Asia,  its  sacred  books  have  been  translated  into  Pali, 
Burmese,  Siamese,  Tibetan,  Chinese,  and  other  Asi 
atic  tongues.  The  Tibetan  edition  of  the  Tripitaka 
fills  about  325  folio  volumes.  Every  important  tribe 
or  nation  which  has  adopted  Buddhism  appears  to 
have  a  more  or  less  complete  Buddhist  literature  of 
its  own.  But  all  this  literature,  so  vast  that  one  life- 
time seems  insufficient  to  exi^lore  it  thoroughly, 
revolves  about  a  comparatively  few  and  simple  doc- 
trines. First  we  have  the  four  sublime  Verities:  (1) 
All  existence,  being  subject  to  change  and  decay,  is 
evil.  (2)  The  source  of  all  this  evil  is  desire.  (3) 
Desire  and  the  evil  which  follows  it  may  be  made  to 
cease.  (4)  There  is  a  fixed  and  certain  way  by 
which  to  attain  exemption  from  all  evil.  Next 
after  these  Verities  are  the  doctrines  of  the  Eightfold 
Path:  (1)  Right  belief,  (2)  right  judgment,  (3)  right 
utterance,  (4)  right  motives,  (5)  right  occupation, 
(6)  right  obedience,  (7)  right  memory,  and  (8)  right 
meditation.  Then  we  have  further,  five  command- 
ments: (1)  Do  not  kill;  (2)  do  not  steal;  (3)  do  not 


MISS  JEANNE  SORABJI, 
Christian  Convert,  Bombay,  India. 


A  RELIGIOUS   SYMPOSIUM.  225 

lie;  (4)  do  not  become  intoxicated;  (5)  do  not  commit 
adultery." 

Advancing  to  the  sacred  literature  of  China,  he 
speaks  as  follows  of  the  ''books  of  Confucianism, 
which  is  par  excellence  the  religion  of  the  Chinese 
Empire.  Bat  Confucius  was  not  the  founder  of  the 
religion  which  is  associated  with  his  name.  He 
claimed  merely  to  have  studied  deeply  into  antiquity 
and  to  be  a  teacher  of  the  records  and  worship  of 
the  past.  The  Chinese  classics  comprise  the  five 
King  and  the  four  Shu.  The  latter,  however,  are 
the  works  of  Confucius'  disciples,  and  hold  not  the 
rank  and  authority  of  the  five  King.  The  word 
King  means  a  web  of  cloth  (or  the  warp  which  keeps 
the  thread  in  place),  and  is  applied  to  the  most 
ancient  books  of  the  nation,  as  works  possessed  of  a 
sort  of  a  canonical  authority.  Of  these  ancient 
books  the  Shu  King  and  the  Shih  King  are  of  chief 
importance.  One  is  a  book  of  history  and  the  other 
of  poetry.  The  Shu  King  relates  to  a  period  extend- 
ing over  seventeen  centuries,  from  about  2357  B.  C. 
to  627  B.  C,  and  is  believed  to  be  the  oldest  of  all 
the  Chinese  Bible,  and  consists  of  ballads  relating  to 
events  of  the  national  history  and  songs  and  hymns 
to  be  sung  on  great  state  occasions.  They  exhibit  a 
primitive  simplicity  and  serve  to  picture  forth  the 
manners  of  the  ancient  time. ' ' 

"In  passing  now  from  sacred  literatures  of  the 
far  East  to  those  of  the  West  I  linger  for  a  moment 
over  the  religious  writings  of  the  ancient  Babyloni- 
ans and  the  Persians.  Who  has  not  heard  of  Zoro- 
aster and  the  Zend-Avesta?    But  the  monuments  of 

15 


226  world's  religious  congresses. 

the  great  valley  of  the  Tigris  and  Euphrates  have 
in  recent  years  disclosed  a  still  more  ancient  litera- 
ture. The  old  Accadian  and  Assyrian  hymns  might 
be  collected  into  a  volume  which  would  perhaps  rival 
the  Veda  in  interest  if  not  in  value." 

'  'As  for  the  sacred  scriptures  of  the  Parsees,  the 
Avesta,  it  may  be  said  that  few  remains  of  antiquity 
are  of  much  greater  interest  to  the  student  of  his- 
tory and  religion.  But  these  records  of  the  old 
Iranian  faith  have  suffered  sadly  by  time  and  the 
revolutions  of  the  empire.  One  who  had  made 
them  a  special  life  stitdy  observes:  'As  the  Parsees 
are  the  ruins  of  a  people,  so  are  their  sacred  books 
the  ruin  of  a  religion.  There  has  been  no  other 
great  belief  that  ever  left  such  poor  and  meager 
monuments  of  its  past  splendor.'  The  oldest  por- 
tions of  the  Avesta  consist  of  praises  to  the  holy 
powers  of  heaven  and  invocations  for  them  to  be 
present  at  the  ceremonial  worship.  The  entire  col- 
lection taken  together  is  mainly  of  the  nature  of  a 
prayer-book  or  ritual." 

As  for  these  and  other  sacred  scriptures,  the 
people  among  whom  they  are  received  regard  them 
as  in  some  way  the  revelation  of  the  divine  wisdom 
for  man.  What  recognition  have  Christians  to  give 
to  them,  how  do  they  explain  their  origin,  and  value 
them  in  comparison  with  our  own  sacred  Scriptures? 
On  this  point  Professor  Carpenter  of  Oxford,  in  his 
plea  for  "a  wider  conception  of  revelation,"  says: 
"  The  early  Christians  were  confronted  with  the  fact 
that  Greek  poets  and    philosophers  had   reached 


A    RELIGIOUS   SYMPOSIUM.  327 

truths  about  the  being  of  God  not  at  all  unlike  those 
of  Moses  and  the  prophets.  Their  solution  was 
worthy  of  the  freedom  and  universality  of  the  spirit 
of  Jesus.  They  were  for  recognizing  and  welcoming 
truth,  wherever  they  found  it,  and  they  referred  it 
without  hesitation  to  the  ultimate  source  of  wisdom 
and  knowledge,  the  Logos,  at  once  the  inner 
thought  anl  the  uttered  word  of  God.  The  martyr 
Justin  affirmed  that  the  Logos  had  worked  through 
Socrates,  as  it  had  been  present  in  Jesus;  nay,  with 
a  wider  outlook  he  spoke  of  the  seed  of  the  Logos 
implanted  in  every  race  of  man.  In  virtue  of  this 
fellowship,  therefore,  all  truth  was  revelation  and 
akin  to  Christ  himself.  '  Whatsoever  things  were 
said  among  all  men  are  the  property  of  us  Chris- 
tians.' The  Alexandrian  teachers  shared  the  same 
conception.  The  divine  intelligence  pervaded 
human  life  and  history  and  showed  itself  in  all  that 
was  best  in  beauty,  goodness,  truth.  The  way  of 
truth  was  like  a  mighty  river,  ever  flowing,  and  as  it 
passed  it  was'  ever  receiving  fresh  streams  on  this 
side  and  that.  Nay,  so  clear  in  Clement's  view  was 
the  work  of  Greek  philosophy  that  he  not  only 
regarded  it  like  law  and  gospel  as  a  gift  of  God,  it 
was  an  actual  covenant  as  much  as  that  of  Sinai, 
possessed  of  its  own  Justifying  power,  or  following 
the  great  generalization  of  St.  Paul,  the  law  was  a 
tutor  to  bring  the  Jews  to  Christ.  Clement  added 
that  philosophy  wrought  the  same  heaven-appointed 
service  for  the  Greeks.  May  we  not  use  the  same 
great  conception  over  other  fields  of  the  history  of 
religion?     'In  all  ages,'  affirmed  the  author  of  the 


228  world's  religious  congresses. 

wisdom  of  Solomon,  'wisdom  entering  into  holy 
souls  maketli  tliem  friends  of  God  and  proi^hets.' 
So  we  may  claim  in  its  widest  ajpplication  the  say- 
ing of  Mohammed:  '  Every  nation  has  a  creator  of 
the  heavens,  to  which  they  turn  in  prayer;  it  is 
God  who  turneth  them  toward  it.  Hasten,  then, 
emulously  after  good  wheresoever  ye  be.  God  wall 
one  day  bring  you  all  together.'  " 

It  is  interesting  in  this  connection  to  recall  the 
theory  of  Maurice  Phillips  of  Madras,  quoted 
above,  that  the  Vedic  Hinduism  was  derived  from 
primitive  revelation,  and  to  raise  the  question 
whether  all  these  sacred  Scriptures  are  not  the 
more  or  less  perverted  streams  of  such  primitive 
revelation.  They  all  show  an  antecedent  history, 
wiiich  is  not  the  history  of  savage  man.  They  not 
only  show  interior  relation  and  striking  family 
resemblance,  but  they  issue  at  full  head  out  of  the 
gateway  ot^"  an  unapproachable  past.  They  are 
colored  by  the  washing  of  the  channels  through 
which  they  run;  but  what  is  essential  to  each  is 
common  to  all,  and  testifies  to  a  divine  fountain  of 
the  water  of  life.  They  use  the  same  symbols  and 
imagery,  and  suggest  a  mystical  meaning.  "The 
idea  of  a  divine  revelation,"  says  the  author  of  the 
pai)er  on  "Concessions  to  Native  Ideas,"  "the  idea 
of  a  '  word  of  God '  communicated  directly  to  inspired 
sages  or  rishis,  according  to  a  theory  of  inspiration 
higher  than  that  of  any  other  religion  in  the  world, 
is  perfectly  familiar  to  Hindus,  and  is,  indeed,  uni- 
versally entertained.     Yet  the  conclusion  reached  is 


A   EELIGIOUS   SYMPOSIUM.  229 

this,  that  a  careful  comparison  of  religions  brings 
out  this  striking  contrast  between  the  Bible  and  all 
other  scriptures;  it  establishes  its  satisfying  char- 
acter in  distinction  from  the  seeking  spirit  of  other 
faiths.  The  Bible  shows  God  in  quest  of  man  rather 
than  man  in  quest  of  God.  It  meets  the  questions 
raised  in  the  philosophies  of  the  East,  and  supplies 
their  only  true  solution." 

Is  this  because  the  Bible  contains  a  verbal  revela- 
tion, given  as  at  the  first  by  inspiration,  and  main- 
tained in  purity  by  divine  providence,  while  all 
other  scriptures  are  derived  from  traditions  of  a 
primitive  word  of  God?  In  confirmation  of  this 
faith,  it  may  be  recalled  that  Rawlinson  says,  "  The 
facts  appear  on  the  whole  to  point  to  the  existence 
of  a  primitive  religion  communicated  to  man  from 
without,  and  the  gradual  clouding  over  of  this 
primitive  revelation  everywheie,  unless  it  were 
among  the  Hebrews." 

The  origin  of  religion  in  revelation  will  be 
admitted  by  those  who  incline  -to  the  theory  of 
natural  development  as  well  as  those  who  think  of 
it  as  the  voice  of  God  from  above;  but  what  is  the 
idea  of  revelation?  It  would  appear  from  the  deliv- 
erances before  the  congress  that  there  are  essen- 
tially two,  and  only  two,  ideas  of  revelation  in  the 
world  to-day.  One  almost  universally  accepted  in 
some  form  or  other  is  that  it  is  the  voice  of  God  in 
human  consciousness.  The  other,  accepted  prob- 
ably by  a  very  few,  that  it  is  the  involution  of  the 
divine  in  human  speech,  through  human  instru- 
ments, but  by  a  divine  act;  and  that  it  is  through 


230  world's  religious  congresses. 

the  inspiration  in  men  of  such  verbal  communica- 
tion from  God  that  spiritual  and  divine  ideas  can 
be  communicated  to  man's  conscious  recognition. 

The  first  theory,  the  revelation  of  the  divine  in 
consciousness,  appears  in  declarations  from  the  Ori- 
ent and  from  Christendom.  Mr.  Mozoomdar,  in  his 
eloquent  address  on  "The  World's  Debt  to  Asia," 
voiced  this  thought  of  revelation  in  his  i^oetic  way: 
"In  the  high  realms  of  that  undying  wisdom  the 
Hebrew,  the  Hindu,  the  Mongolian,  the  Christian 
are  ever  at  one,  for  that  wisdom  is  no  part  of  them- 
selves, but  the  self -rev  elation  of  God.  The  Hindu 
books  have  not  plagiarized  the  Bible,  Cliristianity 
has  not  plundered  Buddhism,  but  universal  wis- 
dom is  like  unto  itself  everywhere.  Similarly  love, 
when  it  is  unselfish  and  incarnal,  has  its  counterj)art 
in  all  lands  and  all  times.  The  deepest  poetry, 
whether  in  Dante,  Shakespeare,  or  Kalidasa,  is  uni- 
versal. The  love  of  God  repeats  itself  century  after 
century  in  the  jdIous  of  every  race;  the  love  of  man 
makes  all  mankind  its  kindred.  True  holiness  is 
the  universal  idea,  however  much  personal  prej- 
udices or  passions  stand  in  the  way  of  the  light. 
Hence  Asia,  seeking  the  universal  God  in  her  soul, 
has  discovered  God  to  all  the  world.  This  process  of 
seeking  and  finding  God  within  is  an  intense  spirit- 
ual culture,  known  by  various  names  in  various 
countries;  in  India  we  call  it  Yoga.  The  self -con- 
centrated devotee  finds  an  immersion  in  the  depths 
of  the  indwelling  deity.  God's  reason  becomes 
man's  reason,  God's  love  becomes  man's  love.  God 
and  man  become  one.     Introspection  finds  the  uni- 


A   RELIGIOUS   SYMPOSIUM.  231 

versal  soul  —  the  over-soul  of  your  Emerson  — beat- 
ing in  all  humanity,  and  a  human  and  divine  are  thus 
reconciled." 

This  doctrine  in  its  more  definite  statement  by 
western  thinkers,  is  substantially  this:  That  God  is 
immanent  in  nature  and  man,  and  by  his  operation  in 
the  human  soul  draws  man  to  seek  him,  and  enables 
man  to  find  him,  and  more  or  less  truly  to  record  what 
he  has  found.  All  sacred  Scriptures  are  such  record. 
Scripture  and  interpretation  alike  are  the  voice  of 
God  in  the  unfolding  consciousness  of  man.  It  is 
this  which  gives  coordinate  authority  for  Doctor 
Briggs  to  Scripture  and  reason  and  the  church. 
Scripture  is  the  record  of  what  God  has  taught  in 
gifted  souls;  reason  sex)arates  the  essential  from  the 
non-essential  and  corrects  the  record  in  fuller  light; 
the  church  perserves  the  record  and  keeps  pure  the 
witness  to  essential  truths  by  a  consensus  of  the  voice 
of  the  divine  Spirit  in  many  through  long  time;  each 
is  serviceable  to  correct  the  other,  and  God  works 
through  all  for  the  perfecting  of  each.  The  same 
theory  lies  at  the  root  of  the  doctrine  of  the  Cath- 
olic church  concerning  the  Bible,  only  in  its  claim 
the  superior  authority  is  with  the  church,  which 
by  its  Catholic  decision  establishes  the  written 
word,  and  by  its  Catholic  consensus  interprets  it. 
It  is  probable,  also,  that  the  same  theory  underlies 
Joseph  Cook' s  emphatic  and  characteristic  declara- 
tion that  "the  worth  of  the  Bible  results  from  the 
fact  that  it  contains  a  revelation  of  religious  truth 
not  elsewhere  communicated  to  man."    For  he  says 


232  world's  religious  congresses. 

this  is  true  ' '  irrespective  of  any  question  as  to  the 
method  of  inspiration,"  and  rests  its  religious  infal- 
libility ux)on  "the  literal  infallibility  of  the  strictly 
self-evident  truths  of  Scripture."  Dr.  Briggs  can 
say  as  mucli,  as  follows: 

"We  may  now  say  confidently  to  all  men:  '  All 
the  sacred  books  of  the  world  are  now  accessible  to 
you;  study  them,  compare  them,  recognize  all  that 
is  good  and  noble  and  true  in  them  all  and  tabulate 
results,  and  you  will  be  convinced  that  the  holy 
Scriptures  of  the  Old  and  'New  Testaments  are  true, 
holy,  and  divine.'  When  we  have  gone  searchingly 
through  all  the  books  of  other  religions  we  will  find 
that  they  are  as  torches  of  various  sizes  and  brilliance 
lighting  up  the  darkness  of  the  night,  but  the  holy 
Scriptures  of  the  Old  and  New  Testaments  are  like 
the  sun  shining  in  the  heavens  and  lighting  up  the 
whole  world." 

But  the  sacred  Scriptures  are  not  the  word  of 
God,  they  are  records  of  the  Word  as  it  was  revealed 
in  holy  men,  and  the  records  are  not  without  error, 
nor  have  they  any  magical  or  peculiar  divine  power 
which  makes  them  authoritative  over  reason  which 
is  God's  voice  now  in  men.  Thus  he  says  of  the 
writers: 

"They  were  guided  by  the  divine  Spirit  in  their 
comprehension  and  expression  of  the  divine  instruc- 
tion, but,  judging  also  from  their  work,  it  seems 
most  probable  that  they  were  not  guided  by  the 
divine  Spirit  in  grammar,  rhetoric,  logic,  expression, 
arrangement  of  material,  or  general  editorial  work. 


A   RELIGIOUS   SYMPOSIUM.  233 

They  were  left  to  those  errors  which  even  the  most 
faithful  and  scrupulous  of  writers  will  sometimes 
make.  The  science  which  approaches  the  Bible 
from  without  and  the  science  which  studies  it  from 
within  agree  as  to  the  essential  facts  of  the  case. 
Now,  can  the  truthfulness  of  Scripture  be  main- 
tained by  those  who  recognize  these  errors?  There 
is  no  reason  why  the  substantial  truthfulness  of  the 
Bible  shall  not  be  consistent  with  circumstantial 
errors.  God  did  not  speak  himself  in  the  Bible 
except  a  few  words  recorded  here  and  there;  he 
spoke  in  much  greater  portions  of  the  Old  Testa- 
ment through  the  voices  and  ]3ens  of  the  human 
authors  of  the  Scriptures.  Did  the  human  minds 
and  pens  always  deliver  the  inerrant  word  ? 

'  'All  that  we  can  claim  is  inspiration  and  accuracy 
for  that  which  suggests  the  religious  lessons  to  be 
imparted:  God  is  true.  He  is  the  truth.  He  can 
not  lie;  he  can  not  mislead  or  deceive  his  creatures. 
But  the  question  arises,  when  the  infinite  God 
speaks  to  finite  man  must  he  speak  words  which  are 
not  error?  This  depends  not  only  upon  God's 
speaking,  but  on  man's  hearing,  and  also  of  the 
means  of  communication  between  God  and  man.  It 
is  necessary  to  show  the  capacity  of  man  to  receive 
the  word  before  we  can  be  sure  that  he  transmitted 
it  correctly.  The  inspiration  of  the  holy  Scriptures 
does  not  carry  with  it  inerrancy  in  every  particular; 
it  was  sufficient  if  the  divine  truth  was  given  with 
such  clearness  as  to  guide  men  aright  in  religious 
life. 

"The  errors  of  holy  Scripture  are  not  errors  of 


234  world's  religious  congresses. 

falsehood  or  deceit,  but  of  ignorance,  inadvertence, 
partial  and  inadequate  knowledge,  and  of  incapacity 
to  express  the  whole  truth  of  God  which  belonged  to 
man  as  man.  Just  as  light  is  seen  not  in  its  pure 
and  unclouded  state,  but  in  the  beautiful  colors  of 
the  spectrum,  so  it  is  that  the  truth  of  God,  its  reve- 
lation and  communication  to  man,  met  with  such 
obstacles  in  human  nature.  Men  are  capable  of 
receiving  it  only  in  its  diverse  operations,  and 
diverse  manners  as  it  comes  to  them  through  the 
diverse  temperaments  and  points  of  view  of  the 
Biblical  writers.  The  religion  of  the  Old  Testament 
is  a  religion  which  includes  some  things  hard  to 
reconcile  in  an  inerrant  revelation.  The  sacrifice  of 
Jephthah's  daughter,  the  divine  command  to  Abra- 
ham to  offer  up  his  son  as  a  burnt  offering,  and  other 
incidents  seem  unsuited  to  divine  revelation.  The 
ISTew  Testament  taught  that  sacrifices  must  be  of 
broken,  contrite  hearts  and  humble  and  cheerful 
spirits.  What  pleasure  would  God  take  in  smoking 
altars?  How  could  the  true  God  prescribe  such 
puerilities?" 

With  more  confidence,  because  established  in  the 
supreme  authority  of  the  church,  through  which, 
acting  in  its  Catholic  capacity  as  an  organized  body, 
it  is  claimed,  the  divine  Spirit  reveals  itself  infalli- 
bly, the  Rt.-Rev.  Mgr.  Seton  declared  the  Catholic 
doctrine  of  the  Bible: 

"The-church  is  a  living  society  commissioned  by 
Jesus  Christ  to  preserve  the  Word  of  God  pure  and 
unchanged .    This  revealed  Word  of  God  is  contained 


A   KELIGIOUS   SYMPOSIUM.  235 

partly  in  the  holy  Scripture  and  partly  in  tradition. 
The  former  is  called  the  written  Word  of  God, 
writing  —  not  necessarily,  indeed,  on  paper,  but  as 
often  found  on  more  durable  materials,  such  as  clay 
or  brick  tablets,  stone  slabs  and  cylinders,  and  metal 
plates  —  being  the  art  of  fixing  thoughts  in  an  intelli- 
gible and  lasting  shape,  so  as  to  hand  them  down  to 
other  generations  and  thus  perpetuate  historical 
records.  There  is  a  sjjecial  congruity  that  the 
Almighty,  from  whose  instructions,  not  only  orig- 
inal spoken,  but  probably  also  written,  language  was 
derived,  should  have  put  his  divine  revelations  in 
wilting  through  the  instrumentality  of  chosen  men; 
and  as  the  human  race  is  originally  one,  we  think 
that  the  fact  that  scriptures  of  some  sort  claiming 
to  be  inspired  are  found  in  all  the  civilized  nations 
of  the  past  shows  that  such  conceptions,  although 
outside  of  the  orthodox  line  of  tradition,  are  derived 
from  the  primitive  unity  and  religion  of  the  human 
family.  The  church  teaches  that  the  sacred  Script- 
ures are  the  written  Word  of  God  and  that  he  is^ 
their  author,  and  consequently  she  receives  them 
with  piety  and  reverence.  This  gives  a  distinct 
character  to  the  Bible  which  no  other  book  possesses, 
for  of  no  mere  human  composition,  however  excel- 
lent, can  it  ever  be  said  that  it  comes  directly  from 
God.  The  church  also  maintains  that  it  belongs 
to  her,  and  to  her  alone,  to  determine  the  true 
sense  of  the  Scriptures,  and  that  they  can  not  be 
rightly  interpreted  contrary  to  her  decision;  because 
she  claims  to  be  and  is  the  living,  unerring  authority 
to  whom,  and  not  to  those  who  expound  the  Script- 


236  world's  religious  congresses. 

ure  by  the  light  of  private  judgment,  infallibility 
was  promised  and  given." 

The  second  theory  of  revelation  was  set  forth 
by  the  Rev.  Frank  Sewall,  with  an  appeal  to  the 
testimony  of  the  Scriptures  themselves,  so  full  and 
frank  as  to  challenge  that  "  criticism  "  of  which  Doc- 
tor Briggs  thinks  so  highly  that  he  says  the  faith 
which  shrinks  from  it  is  a  faith  so  weak  and  uncer- 
tain that  it  excites  suspicion  as  to  its  life  and  vital- 
ity. When,  in  preparing  for  the  parliament,  it  was 
observed  that  the  programme  provided  for  no  pres- 
entation of  the  plenary  inspiration  of  the  Scriptures, 
I  asked  that  the  Rev.  Mr.  Sewall  be  assigned  "The 
Character  and  Degree  of  the  Inspiration  of  the 
Christian  Scriptures."  The  paper,  because  it  stands 
alone  in  the  doctrine  advocated  both  as  to  the  canon 
and  as  to  nature  of  inspiration,  and  presents  its  argu- 
ment from  the  Scriptures  themselves,  will  interest 
even  those  committed  to  the  jjrevailing  theories. 

"  There  is  a  common  consent  among  Christians 
that  the  Scri^Dtures  known  as  the  Holy  Bible  are 
divinely  inspired;  that  they  constitute  a  book  unlike 
all  other  books  in  that  they  contain  a  direct  com- 
munication from  the  divine  Spirit  to  the  mind  and 
heart  of  man.  The  nature  and  the  degree  of  the 
inspiration  which  thus  characterizes  the  Bible  can 
only  be  learned  from  the  declaration  of  the  holy 
Scriptures  themselves,  since  only  the  divine  can 
truly  reveal  the  divine  or  afford  to  human  minds 
the  means  of  judging  truly  regarding  what  is  divine. 

"The  Christian  Scripture,  or  the  Holy  Bible^  is 


A   RELIGIOUS   SYMPOSIUM.  237 

written  in  two  parts,  the  Old  and  the  New  Testa- 
ment. In  the  interval  of  time  that  transpired 
between  the  writing  of  these  two  parts,  the  divine 
truth  and  essential  Word,  which  in  the  beginning 
was  with  God  and  was  God,  became  incarnate  on 
our  earth  in  the  person  of  our  Lord  Jesus  Christ. 
He,  as  the  Word  made  flesh  and  dwelling  among 
men,  being  himself  '  the  true  Light  that  lighteth 
every  man  that  cometh  into  the  world,'  placed  the 
seal  of  divine  authority  upon  certain  of  the  then 
existing  sacred  Scriptures.  He  thus  forever  fixed 
the  divine  canon  of  that  portion  of  the  written 
Word;  and  from  that  portion  we  are  enabled  to 
derive  a  criterion  of  judgment  regarding  the  degree 
of  divine  inspiration  and  authority  to  be  attributed 
to  those  other  Scriptures  which  were  to  follow  after 
our  Lord's  ascension  and  which  constitute  the  New 
Testament. 

"The  divine  canon  of  the  W^ord  in  the  Old  Testa- 
ment Scriptures  is  declared  by  our  Lord  in  Luke, 
twenty-fourth  chapter,  forty-fourth  verse,  where  he 
says:  '  All  things  must  be  fulfilled  which  were 
written  in  the  law  of  Moses,  and  in  the  Prophets,  and 
in  the  Psalms  concerning  me.'  And  in  verses 
twenty-five  to  twenty- seven:  '  O  fools,  and  slow  of 
heart  to  believe  all  that  the  prophets  have  spoken ' 
—  '  and  beginning  at  Moses  and  all  the  prophets,  he 
expounded  unto  them  in  all  the  Scriptures  things 
concerning  himself.'  The  Scriptures  of  the  Old  Tes- 
tament thus  enumerated  as  testifying  of  him  and 
as  being  fulfilled  in  him  embrace  two  of  the  three 
divisions  into  which  the  Jews  at  that  time  divided 


238  world's  religious  congresses. 

their  sacred  books.  These  two  are  the  Law  (Torah), 
or  the  five  books  of  Moses,  so  called,  and  the 
Prophets  (Nebiim).  Of  the  books  contained  in  the 
third  division  of  the  Jewish  canon,  known  as  the 
Kethubim  or  'other  writings,'  our  Lord  recognizes 
but  two:  he  names  by  title  'the  Psalms;'  and  in 
Matthew,  twenty-fourth  chapter,  fifteenth  verse, 
when  predicting  the  consummation  of  the  age  and  his 
own  second  coming,  our  Lord  cites  the  prophecy  of 
Daniel.  It  is  evident  that  our  Lord  was  not  gov- 
erned by  Jewish  tradition  in  naming  these  three 
classes  of  the  ancient  books  which  were  henceforth 
to  be  regarded  as  essentially  '  the  Word,'  because  of 
having  their  fulfillment  in  himself.  In  the  very 
words  of  Jesus  Christ  the  canon  of  the  Word  is 
established  in  a  twofold  manner:  First,  intrinsic- 
ally, as  including  those  books  which  interiorly  tes- 
tify of  him  and  were  all  to  be  fulfilled  in  him. 
Secondly,  the  canon  is  fixed  specifically  by  our 
Lord's  naming  the  books  which  compose  it  under 
the  three  divisions:  '  The  Law,  the  Prophets,  and 
the  Psalms.'  The  canon  in  this  sense  comprises 
consequently  the  ^ye  books  of  Moses,  or  the  '  Law, ' 
so-called;  the  books  of  Joshua,  the  Judges,  First 
and  Second  Samuel,  First  and  Second  Kings,  or 
the  so-called  earlier  prophets;  the  later  prophets, 
including  the  four  '  great '  and  the  twelve  '  minor ' 
prophets,  and  finally  the  Book  of  Psalms.  The 
other  books  of  the  Old  Testament,  namely:  Ezra, 
Nehemiah,  Job,  Proverbs,  First  and  Second  Chron- 
icles, Kuth,  Esther,  the  Songs  of  Solomon,  and  Eccle- 
siastes,  are  as  well  as  the  so-called,  '  Apocrypha.' 


A    RELIGIOUS   SYMPOSIUM.  239 

Of  those  books,  whicli  compose  the  divine  canon 
itself,  it  may  be  said  that  they  constitute  the  inex- 
haustible source  of  revelation  and  inspiration.  We 
may  regard,  therefore,  as  established  that  the  source 
of  the  divinity  of  the  Bible,  of  its  unity,  and  its 
authority  as  divine  revelation  lies  in  having  the 
Christ,  as  the  eternal  Word  v^ithin  it,  at  once  its 
source,  its  inspiration,  its  prophecy,  its  fulfillment, 
its  power  to  illuminate  the  minds  of  men  with  a 
knowledge  of  divine  and  spiritual  things,  to  '  convert 
the  soul,'  to  '  make  wise  the  simple.' 

"We  next  observe  regarding  these  divine  books 
that,  besides  being  thus  set  apart  by  Christ,  they 
declare  themselves  to  be  the  word  of  the  Lord  in 
the  sense  of  being  actually  spoken  by  the  Lord,  and 
so  as  constituting  a  divine  language.  This  shows 
that  not  only  do  these  books  claim  to  be  of  God's 
revealing,  but  that  the  manner  of  the  revelation  was 
that  of  direct  dictation  by  means  of  a  voice  actually 
heard,  as  one  hears  another  talking,  although  by 
the  internal  organs  of  hearing.  The  same  is  also 
true  throughout  the  prophetical  books  above  enu- 
merated. Here  we  are  met  with  the  constant  decla- 
ration of  the  ^Word  of  the  Lord  coming,'  as  the 
^  voice  of  the  Lord  speaking,'  to  the  writers  of  these 
books,  showing  that  the  writers  wrote  not  of  them- 
selves, but  from  the  'voice  of  the  Lord  through 
them.' 

*'  We  now  turn  to  the  New  Testament,  and  apply- 
ing to  those  books  which  in  the  time  of  Christ  were 
yet  unwritten  criteria  derived  from  those  books 
which  had  received  from  him  the  seal  of  divine 


240  world's  religious  congresses. 

authority,  namely,  that  they  are  words  spoken  by 
the  Lord  or  given  by  his  Spirit,  and  that  they  testify 
of  him  and  so  haye  in  them  eternal  life,  we  find  in 
the  four  Gospels  either — 

'*1.  The  words  'spoken  unto'  us  by  our  Lord 
himself  when  among  men  as  the  Word,  and  of  which 
he  says:  '  The  words  which  I  speak  unto  you  they 
are  spirit  and  they  are  life.'  2.  The  acts  done  by 
him  or  to  him  '  that  the  Scriptures  might  be  ful- 
filled,' or  finally  the  words  'called  to  the  remem- 
brance '  of  the  apostles  and  the  evangelists  by  the 
Holy  Spirit  according  to  his  promise  to  them  in 
John  xiv,  26.  Besides  the  four  Gospels  we  have 
the  testimony  of  John  the  Eevelator  that  the  visions 
recorded  in  the  Apocalypse  were  vouchsafed  to  him 
by  the  Lord  himself,  thus  showing  that  the  Book 
of  Revelation  is  no  mere  personal  communication 
from  the  man  John,  but  is  the  actual  revelation  of 
the  Divine  Spirit  of  Truth  itself. 

"No  such  claims  of  direct  divine  inspiration  or 
dictation  are  made  in  any  other  part  of  the  New 
Testament.  Only  to  the  four  Gospels  and  to  the 
Book  of  Revelation  could  one  presume  to  apply 
these  words,  written  at  the  close  of  the  Apocalypse 
and  applying  immediately  to  it:  '  If  any  man  shall 
take  away  from  the  words  of  the  prophecy  of  this 
book,  God  shall  take  away  his  part  out  of  the  book 
of  life,  and  out  of  the  holy  city,  and  from  the  things 
which  are  written  in  this  book.'  In  the  portion  of 
the  Bible  which  we  may  thus  distinguish  preemi- 
nently as  the  '  Word  of  the  Lord  '  it  is  therefore  the 
words  themselves  that  are  inspired,  and  not  the 


A   RELIGIOUS   SYMPOSIUM.  241 

men  that  transmitted  them.     This  is  what  our  Lord 
declares. 

Moreover,  the  very  v^ords  which  the  apostles 
and  the  evangelists  themselves  heard,  and  the  acts 
which  they  beheld  and  recorded,  had  a  meaning 
and  content  of  which  they  were  partially  and  in 
some  cases  totally  ignorant.  Thus  when  our  Lord 
speaks  of  the  '  eating  of  his  flesh '  the  disciples  mur- 
mur, '  This  is  an  hard  saying;  who  can  bear  it? '  And 
when  he  speaks  of  '  going  away  to  the  Father  and 
coming  again,'  the  disciples  say  among  themselves, 
'  What  is  this  that  he  saith?  We  can  not  tell  what 
he  saith.'  If  we  look  at  the  Apocalypse,  with  its 
strange  visions,  its  mysterious  numbers  and  signs; 
if  we  read  the  prophets  of  the  Old  Testament,  with 
their  commingling  of  times  and  nations,  and  lands 
and  seas,  and  things  animate  and  inanimate  in  a 
manner  discordant  with  any  conceivable  earthly 
history  or  chronology;  if  we  read  the  details  of  the 
ceremonial  law  dictated  to  Moses  in  the  mount  by 
the  '  voice  of  Jehovah ' ;  if  we  read  in  Genesis  the 
account  of  creation  and  of  the  origins  of  human 
history  —  we  are  compelled  to  admit  that  the  penmen 
recording  these  things  were  writing  that  of  which 
they  knew  not  the  meaning;  that  what  they  wrote 
did  not  represent  their  intelligence  or  counsel,  but 
was  the  faithful  record  of  what  was  delivered  to 
them  by  the  voice  of  the  Spirit  speaking  inwardly  to 
them.  Here,  then,  we  see  the  manner  of  divine 
revelation  in  human  language,  again  definitely 
declared  and  exemplified  in  Jesus  the  Word  incar- 
nate, in  that  not  only  in  his  acts  did  he  employ 

16 


242 

signs  and  miracles,  but  in  teaching  his  disciples  he 
'spake  in  parables,'  and  'without  a  parable  sj)ake 
he  not  to  them,  that  it  might  be  fulfilled  which  was 
sj)oken  by  the  prophet,  saying,  I  will  open  my 
mouth  in  parables;  I  will  utter  things  which  have 
been  kept  sacred  from  the  foundation  of  the  world.' 
We  learn,  therefore,  that  the  divine  language  is 
that  of  parable,  wherein  things  of  the  kingdom  of 
heaven  are  clothed  in  the  familiar  figures  of  earthly 
speech  and  action.  If  the  Bible  is  divine,  the  law  of 
its  revelation  must  be  coincident  with  that  of  divine 
creation.  Both  are  the  involution  of  the  divine  and 
infinite  in  a  series  of  veils  or  symbols,  which  become 
more  and  more  gross  as  they  recede  from  their 
source.  In  revelation  the  veilings  of  the  divine 
truth  of  the  essential  Word  follow  in  accordance 
with  the  receding  and  more  and  more  sensualized 
states  of  mankind  upon  earth.  Hence  the  successive 
dispensations,  or  church  eras,  which  mark  off  the 
whole  field  of  human  history.  After  the  Eden  days 
of  open  vision,  when  '  heaven  lay  about  us  in  our 
infancy,'  followed  the  Noetic  era  of  a  sacred  lan- 
guage, full  of  heavenly  meanings,  traces  of  whicli 
occur  in  the  hieroglyphic  writings  and  the  great 
world-myths  of  most  ancient  tradition;  then  came 
the  visible  and  localized  Theocracy  of  a  chosen 
nation,  with  laws  and  ritual,  and  a  long  history  of 
its  war  and  struggle,  and  victory  and  decline,  and 
the  promise  of  a  final  renewal  and  perpetuation;  all 
being  at  the  same  time  a  revelation  of  God's  provi- 
dence and  government  over  man,  and  a  jiicture  of 
the  process  of  the  regeneration  of  the  human  soul 


A   RELIGIOUS   SYMPOSIUM.  243 

and  its  preparation  for  an  eternal  inheritance  in 
heaven.  But  even  the  law  of  God  thus  revealed  in 
the  form  of  a  national  constitution,  hierarchy,  and 
ritual  was  at  length  made  of  non-effect  through  the 
traditions  of  men,  and  men  '  seeing  saw  not,  and 
hearing  heard  not,  neither  did  they  understand.' 
Then  for  the  redemption  of  man  in  this  extremity 
'  the  Word  itself  w^i  s  made  flesh  and  dwelt  among  us, ' 
and  now,  in  the  veil  of  a  humanity  subject  to  human 
temptation  and  suffering,  even  to  the  death  upon 
the  cross. 

"Tims  the  process  of  the  evolution  of  the  Spirit 
out  of  the  veil  or  of  the  letter  of  the  Scripture,  begun 
in  our  Lord's  own  interpretation  of  the  'Law  for 
those  of  ancient  time,'  is  a  process  to  whose 
further  continuance  the  Lord  himself  testifies. 
The  letter  of  Scripture  is  the  cloud  which  every- 
where proclaims  the  presence  of  the  infinite  God 
with  his  creature  man.  The  cloud  of  the  Lord's 
presence  is  the  infinitely  merciful  adaptation  of 
divine  truth  to  the  spiritual  needs  of  humanity. 
The  cloud  of  the  literal  gospel  and  of  the  ax)ostolic 
traditions  of  our  Lord  is  truly  typified  by  that 
cloud  which  received  the  ascending  Christ  out  of 
the  immediate  sight  of  men.  The  same  letter  of  the 
Word  is  the  cloud  in  which  he  makes  known  his 
second  coming  in  power  and  great  glory,  in  reveal- 
ing to  the  church  the  inner  and  spiritual  meanings 
of  both  the  Old  and  New  Testament  of  his  Wor^. 
For  ages  the  Christian  church  has  stood  gazing  up 
into  heaven  in  adoration  of  him  whom  the  cloud 
has  hidden  from  their  sight,  and  with  the  tradi- 


244 

tions  of  human  dogma  and  the  warring  of  schools 
and  critics  more  and  more  dense  has  the  cloud 
become.  In  the  thickness  of  the  cloud  it  behooves 
the  church  to  hold  the  more  fast  its  faith  in  the 
glory  within  the  cloud. 

''  The  view  of  the  Bible  and  its  inspiration  thus 
presented  is  the  only  one  compatible  with  a  belief  in 
it  as  a  divine  in  contradistinction  from  a  human  pro- 
duction. Were  the  Bible  a  work  of  human  art, 
embodying  human  genius  and  human  wisdom, 
then  the  question  of  the  writers'  individuality  and 
their  personal  inspiration,  and  even  of  the  time  and 
circumstances  amid  which  they  wrote,  would  be  of 
the  first  importance.  Not  so  if  the  divine  inspira- 
tion and  wisdom  is  treasured  up  in  the  very  words 
themselves  as  divinely  chosen  symbols  and  par- 
ables of  eternal  truth.  Far  from  placing  a  human 
limitation  upon  the  divine  Spirit,  such  a  verbal 
inspiration  as  this  opens  in  the  Bible  vistas  of 
heavenly  and  divine  meanings  such  as  they  could 
never  possess  were  its  inspirations  confined  to  the 
degree  of  intelligence  possessed  by  the  human 
writers,  even  under  a  special  illumination  of  their 
minds.  The  difference  between  inspired  words  of 
God  and  inspired  men  writing  their  own  words  is 
like  that  between  an  eternal  fact  of  nature  and  the 
scientific  theories  which  men  have  formulated  upon 
or  about  it.  The  fact  remains  forever  a  source  of 
n^w  discovery  and  a  means  of  ever  new  revelation 
of  the  divine;  the  scientific  theories  may  come  and 
go  with  the  changing  minds  of  men. 

"It  is  not,  then,  from  man,  from  the  intelligence 


A   RELIGIOUS   SYMPOSIUM.  245 

of  any  Moses,  or  Daniel,  or  Isaiah,  or  John,  that 
the  Word  of  God  contains  its  authority  as  divine. 
The  authority  must  be  in  the  words  themselves.  If 
they  are  unlike  all  otlier  words  ever  written;  if 
tliey  have  a  meaning,  yea,  worlds  and  worlds  of 
meaning,  one  within  or  above  another,  while  human 
words  have  all  their  meaning  on  the  surface;  if  they 
have  a  message  whose  truth  is  dependent  upon  no 
single  time  or  circumstance,  but  speaks  to  man  at 
all  times  and  under  all  circumstances;  if  they  have 
a  validity  and  an  authority  self-dictated  to  human 
souls  which  survives  the  passing  of  earthly  monu- 
ments and  powers,  which  speaks  in  all  languages, 
to  all  minds,  wise  to  the  learned,  simple  to  the 
simple ;  if,  in  a  word,  these  are  words  that 
experience  shows  no  man  could  have  written  from 
the  intelligence  belonging  to  his  time,  or  from  the 
experience  of  any  single  human  soul,  then  may  we 
feel  sure  that  we  have  in  the  words  of  our  Bible  that 
which  is  diviner  than  any  penman  that  wrote  them. 
Here  is  that  which  '  speaks  with  authority  and  not 
as  the  scribes.'  The  words  that  God  speaks  to 
man  are  'si)irit  and  are  life.'  The  authorship  of 
the  Bible,  and  all  that  this  implies  of  divine  author- 
ity to  the  conscience  of  man,  is  contained,  like  the 
flame  of  the  Urim  and  Thummim  on  the  breast- 
plate of  the  high  priest,  in  the  bosom  of  its  own 
language,  to  reveal  itself  by  the  Spirit  to  all  who 
will  '  have  an  ear  to  hear. '  So  shall  it  continue  to 
utter  the  'dark  parables  of  old  which  we  have 
known  and  our  fathers  have  told  us,'  and  'to 
show  forth  to  all  generations  the  praises  of  the 


246  world's  religious  congresses. 

Lord,'  becoming  ever  more  and  more  translucent 
witli  the  glory  tliat  shines  within  the  cloud  of  the 
letter;  and  so  shall  the  church  rest,  amid  all  the 
contentions  that  engage  those  who  study  the  sur- 
face of  revelation,  whether  in  nature  or  in  Scripture, 
in  the  undisturbed  assurance  that  the  '  Word  of  the 
Lord  abide th  forever.'  " 

IMMORTALITY. 

The  doctrine  of  personal  immortality  received 
general  acknowledgment  and  confirmation,  as  based 
on  considerations  of  man's  place  in  nature,  the 
incompleteness  of  the  present  life,  and  the  universal 
aspiration  and  intuition  of  the  soul.  Even  the 
argument  of  scientific  evolutionists  led  them  to  the 
inference  of  immortality.  Professor  Bruce  of  Glas- 
gow closed  the  paper  on  "Man's  Place  in  Nature," 
contributed  by  him,  as  follows: 

"  Does  the  view  of  man  as  the  crown  of  the  evolu- 
tionary process  throw  any  light  on  his  eternal  des- 
tiny 1  Does  it  contain  any  promise  of  immortality  ? 
Here  one  feels  inclined  to  speak  with  bated  breath. 
A  ho]3e  so  august,  so  inconceivably  great,  makes 
the  grasping  hand  of  faith  tremble.  We  are 
tempted  to  exclaim,  behold,  we  know  not  anything. 
Yet  it  is  worthy  of  note  that  leading  advocates 
of  evolutionism  are  among  the  most  pronounced 
upholders  of  immortality.  Mr.  Fisk  says:  'For 
my  own  part  I  believe  in  the  immortality  of  the 
soul,  not  in  the  sense  in  which  I  accept  the  demon- 
strable proofs  of  a  science,  but  as  a  supreme  act  of 
faith  in  the  reasonableness  of  God's  work.'     He 


A    RELIGIOUS   SYMPOSIUM.  247 

can  not  believe  that  God  made  the  world,  and 
especially  its  highest  creature,  simply  to  destroy  it, 
like  a  child  who  builds  houses  out  of  rocks  just  for 
the  pleasure  of  knocking  them  down.  Not  less 
strongly  Le  Conte  writes:  '  Without  spirit-immor- 
tality this  beautiful  cosmos,  which  has  been  devel- 
oping into  increasing  beauty  for  so  many  millions 
of  years,  when  its  evolution  has  run  its  course  and 
all  is  over,  would  be  precisely  as  if  it  had  never 
been  — an  idle  dream,  an  idle  tale,  signifying 
nothing.'  These  utterances  of  course  do  not  settle 
the  question;  but,  considering  whence  they  ema- 
nate, they  may  be  taken  at  least  as  an  authoritative 
indication  that  the  tenet  of  human  immortality  is 
congruous  to,  if  it  be  not  a  necessary  deduction 
from,  the  demonstrable  truth  that  man  is  the  con- 
summation of  the  great  world-process  by  which  the 
universe  has  been  brought  into  being." 

This  of  course  teaches  nothing  that. man  wants  to 
know.  It  simply  asserts  what  all  men  refuse  to 
disbelieve.  What  most  men  would  like  to  know, 
is  something  about  the  mode  of  man's  immortality. 
Even  the  Buddhist  acknowledges  so  much  as  is 
asserted  by  Professor  Bruce,  and  he  carries  on  the 
evolutionary  process,  through  the  working  of  cause 
and  effect  in  character,  by  means  of  repeated  incar- 
nations, until  the  process  reaches  perfection,  when 
he  loses  sight  of  it  in  the  divine,  and  can  affirm 
nothing  more  of  the  soul' s  state  and  mode  of  being. 
His  whole  doctrine  of  transmigration  is  a  doctrine 
of  evolution,  elaborated  in  the  effort  to  solve  the 


248 

apparent  inequality  of  opportunity,  and  manifest 
incompleteness  of  every  mortal  life.  Back  of  it  lies 
a  tradition,  which  his  doctrine  seeks  to  interpret; 
but  what  he  would  ask  of  Christianity  is  some 
better  explanation  of  the  soul's  longings  and  the 
necessity  of  self-conquest,  and  the  obvious  incom- 
pleteness of  most  lives,  consistent  with  a  benevolent 
conception  of  the  divine  order  of  the  universe.  One 
wonders  that  ths  is  all  that  Buddhism  has  to  say; 
that  it  makes  no  claim  to  Gautama's  seershij)  and 
introduction  into  an  inner  and  higher  world  at  the 
time  of  his  illumination,  which  others  have  claimed 
for  him.  But  its  representatives  before  the  parlia- 
ment showed  no  such  thought,  nor  any  idea  of 
Nirvana  which  could  be  described  as  a  state  of  rest  in 
conscious  love  and  thought  and  activity  in  harmony 
with  "the  spirits  of  just  men  made  perfect,"  in  a 
spiritual  world,  in  conscious  reciprocal  union  with 
Grod.  Nor  can  it  be  said  that  Christians  were  for- 
ward with  assured  and  helpful  explanations,  with 
two  exceptions  to  be  noted  presently. 

The  paper  on  "The  Religious  System  of  the  Par- 
sees'  '  showed  that  ' '  Zoroastrianism  teaches  the 
immortality  of  the  soul,"  and  that  the  Parsees 
"  believe  in  heaven  and  hell"  Heaven  is  called  by 
a  word  which  literally  means  "the  best  life." 
Heaven  is  represented  as  a  place  of  radiance,  splen- 
dor, and  glory,  and  hell  as  that  of  gloom,  darkness, 
and  stench.  And  the  state  of  the  soul  and  trend 
of    life  determines    man's  place   in  the  hereafter. 

"According  to  the  Parsee  Scriptures,  for  three 
days  after  a  man's  death  his  soul  remains  within 


'    A  KELIOIOUS   SYMPOSIUM.  249 

the  limits  of  the  world  under  the  guidance  of  the 
angel  Serosh.  If  the  deceased  be  a  pious  man  or  a 
man  who  led  a  virtuous  life,  his  soul  utters  the 
words  signifying,  '  Well  is  he  by  whom  that  which 
is  his  benefit  becomes  the  benefit  of  any  one  else.' 
If  he  be  a  wicked  man  or  one  who  led  an  evil  life, 
his  soul  utters  the  plaintive  words  which  signify, 
'  To  which  land  shall  I  turn  ?     Whither  shall  I  go  ? ' 

"On  the  dawn  of  the  third  night  the  departed 
souls  appear  at  the  'Chinvat  Bridge.'  This  bridge 
is  guarded  by  the  angel  Meher  the  judge.  He  pre- 
sides there  as  a  judge,  assisted  by  the  angels  Rashne 
and  Astad,  the  former  representing  justice  and  the 
latter  truth.  At  this  bridge,  and  before  this  angel 
Meher,  the  soul  of  every  man  has  to  give  an  account 
of  its  doings  in  the  past  life.  The  judge  weighs  a 
man's  actions  by  a  scale-pan.  If  a  man's  good 
actions  outweigh  his  evil  ones,  even  by  a  small 
particle,  he  is  allowed  to  pass  from  the  bridge  to  the 
other  end,  to  heaven.  If  his  evil  actions  outweigh 
his  good  ones,  even  by  a  small  weight,  he  is  not 
allowed  to  pass  over  the  bridge,  but  is  hurled  down 
into  the  deep  abyss  of  hell.  If  his  meritorious  and 
evil  deeds  counterbalance  each  other,  he  is  sent  to 
a  place  corresponding  to  the  Christian  '  purgatory  ' 
and  the  Mohammedan  '  aeraf.'  His  meritorious 
deeds  done  in  the  past  life  would  prevent  him  from 
going  to  hell,  and  his  evil  actions  would  not  let  him 
go  to  heaven. 

"Again  Zoroastrian  books  say  that  the  merito- 
rionsness  of  good  deeds  and  the  sin  of  evil  ones 
increase    with    the    growth    of  time.     As    capital 


250  world's  eeligious  congeesses. 

increases  with  interest,  so  good  and  bad  actions 
done  by  a  man  in  his  life  increase,  as  it  were,  with 
interest  in  their  effects.  Thus  a  meritorious  deed 
done  in  young  age  is  more  effective  than  that  very 
deed  done  in  advanced  age.  A  man  must  begin 
practicing  virtue  from  his  very  young  age.  As  in 
the  case  of  good  deeds  and  their  meritoriousness 
so  in  the  case  of  evil  actions  and  their  sins.  The 
burden  of  the  sin  of  an  evil  action  increases,  as  it 
were,  with  interest.  A  young  man  has  a  long  time 
to  repent  of  his  evil  deeds  and  to  do  good  deeds 
that  could  counteract  the  effect  of  his  evil  deeds.  If 
he  does  not  take  advantage  of  these  opportunities 
the  burden  of  those  evil  deeds  increases  with  time." 

The  expositions  of  Mohammedanism  had  little  to 
say  of  the  soul's  future  life;  and  Christian  references 
to  the  subject  were  confined  to  the  usual  general 
assumption  of  continued  existence  in  a  state  of  hap- 
piness and  peace  in  union  with  God,  or  of  unhappi- 
ness  in  sex)aration  from  God  and  the  good.  One 
noble  paper  on  "The  Argument  for  Immortality," 
and  one  on  "  The  Soul  audits  Future  Life,"  con- 
stitute the  only  exceptions  to  these  general  references 
to  the  subject;  and  these,  taken  together,  were  so 
excellent  as  to  make  one  almost  glad  that  they 
stand  alone. 

Doctor  Moxom's  treatment  of  "The  Argument 
for  Immortality"  was  eloquent  and  exhaustive,  as 
showing  the  rational  necessity  for  the  conception  of 
continued  personal  existence  under  spiritual  con- 
ditions.    As  to  the  nalwire  of  evidence,   he  said: 


A   RELIGIOUS   SYMPOSIUM.  251 

''  None  oi  the  highest,  the  essentially  spiritual  facts 
of  man's  knowledge  and  experience  fall  within  the 
scope  of  what  is  known  as  scientific  proof.  God, 
the  soul,  truth,  love,  righteousness,  repentance, 
faith,  beauty,  the  good  —all  these  are  unapproach- 
able by  scientific  tests;  yet  these,  and  not  salts  and 
acids,  and  laws  of  cohesion,  and  chemical  affinity,  and 
gravitation,  are  the  supreme  realities  of  man' s  life, 
even  in  this  world  of  matter  and  force.  When  one 
demands  scientific  j)roof  of  immortality,  then,  it  is  as 
if  he  demanded  the  linear  measurement  of  a  imnci- 
ple,  or  the  troy  weight  of  an  emotion,  or  the  color 
of  an  affection,  or  as  if  he  should  insist  upon  find- 
ing the  human  soul  with  his  scalpel  or  microscope." 
He  made  a  strong  plea  for  the  doctrine  of  con- 
tinuity of  existence,  and  for  the  personal  conscious- 
ness and  individuality  which  it  implies;  referred 
with  feeling  to  the  Saviour's  comforting  promise, 
"I  go  to  prepare  a  place  for  you,"  which  he  said 
infects  one's  heart  with  hapi^y  confidence;  and 
ended  with  the  statement  that  hope  grows  into  an 
assurance  of  immortality,  and  serene  faith  deepens 
into  a  conscious  experience  as  the  soul  knows  Grod 
and  strives  toward  the  ideals  of  culture  and  charac- 
ter wliicli  rise  in  divine  beckonings  before  us.  If  it 
could  have  been  followed  by  a  x)aper  on  the  evi- 
dence from  the  sacred  Scriptures  showing  that  to 
opened  vision  of  prophets  and  seers  the  spiritual 
world  was  displayed,  •  and  the  demands  of  reason 
and  the  expectation  of  hope  justified  in  fact,  the 
showing  would  have  been  a  complete  and  fitting 
preparation  for  the  paper  which  followed,  and  con- 


252  world's  religious  congresses. 

stituted  the  only  attempt  to  set  forth  the  mode 
of  man's  immortality. 

This  paper,  by  the  Rev.  Samuel  M.  Warren  of 
Hoxbury,  on  "The  Soul  and  Its  Future  Life," 
assuming  immortality,  considered  in  what  form  and 
body  and  under  what  conditions  man  lives  again. 
Starting  with  the  propositions  "That  the  soul  is 
substantial,  though  not  of  earthly  substance,  and  is 
the  very  man,  and  that  the  body  is  merely  the 
earthly  form  and  instrument  of  the  soul,  and  that 
every  part  of  the  body  is  produced  from  the  soul 
according  to  its  likeness,  in  order  that  it  may  per- 
form its  functions  in  the  world  during  the  brief  but 
important  time  that  this  is  the  place  of  man's  con- 
scious abode,"  the  argument  proceeds  as  follows: 

"If,  as  all  Christians  believe,  man  is  an  immortal 
being,  created  to  live  on  through  the  endless  ages 
of  eternity,  then  the  longest  life  in  this  world  is, 
comparatively,  but  as  a  point,  an  infinitesimal  part 
of  his  existence.  In  this  view,  it  is  not  rational  to 
believe  that  that  part  of  man  which  is  for  his  brief 
use  in  this  world  only,  and  is  left  behind  when  he 
passes  out  of  this  world,  is  the  most  real  and  sub- 
stantial part  of  him;  every  rational  mind  perceives 
that  it  can  not  be  so.  That  is  more  substantial 
which  is  more  enduring,  and  that  is  the  more  real 
part  of  a  man  in  which  his  characteristics  and  bis 
qualities  are.  All  the  facts  and  phenomena  of  life 
confirm  the  doctrine  that  the  soul  is  the  real  man. 
What  makes  the  quality  of  a  man?  What  gives 
him  character  as  good  or  bad,  small  or  great,  lov- 
able or  detestable?     Do  these  qualities  pertain  to 


A   RELIGIOUS   SYMPOSIUM.  253 

the  body?  Every  one  knows  that  they  do  not.  But 
they  are  the  qualities  of  the  man.  Then  the  real 
man  is  not  the  body,  but  is  'the  living  soul.'  The 
body  has  absolutely  no  human  quality  but  what  it 
derives  from  the  soul,  not  even  its  human  form;  and 
all  that  is  human  about  it  departs  when  the  soul 
leaves  the  body  —  even  its  human  form  quickly  van- 
ishes. But  the  man  endures.  If  there  is  immortal 
life  he  has  not  vanished,  except  from  mortal  and 
material  sight.  As  between  the  soul  and  the  body, 
then,  there  can  be  no  rational  question  as  to  which 
is  the  substantial  and  which  the  evanescent  thing. 

"Again,  if  the  immortal  soul  is^the  real  man,  and 
is  substantial,  what  must  be  its  form?  It  can  not 
be  a  formless,  vaporous  thing  and  be  a  man.  Can  it 
have  other  than  the  human  form?  Reason  clearly 
sees  that  if  formless  or  in  any  other  form  he  would 
not  be  a  man.  The  soul  of  man,  or  the  real  man,  is 
a  marvelous  assemblage  of  powers  and  faculties  of 
will  and  understanding;  and  the  human  form  is  such 
as  it  is  because  it  is  perfectly  adapted  to  the  exercise 
of  these  various  powers  and  faculties.  In  other 
words,  the  soul  forms  itself,  under  the  divine 
Maker's  hand,  into  an  organism  by  which  it  can 
adequately  and  perfectly  put  forth  its  wondrous 
and  wonderfully  varied  powers,  and  bring  its  pur- 
poses into  acts. 

"The  human  form  is  thus  an  assemblage  of 
organs  that  exactly  correspond  to  and  embody  and 
are  the  express  image  of  the  various  faculties  of 
the  soul.  And  there  is  no  organ  of  the  human  form 
the  absence  of  which  would  not  hinder  and  impede 


254  world's  religious  congresses. 

the  free  and  efficient  action  and  putting  forth  of  the 
soul's  powers.  And  by  the  human  form  is  not 
meant  merely,  nor  primarily,  the  organic  forms  of 
the  material  body.  The  faculties  are  of  the  soul, 
and  if  the  soul  is  the  man,  and  endures  when  the 
body  decays  and  vanishes,  it  must  itself  be  in  a 
form  which  is  an  assemblage  of  organs  perfectly 
adapted  and  adequate  to  the  exercise  of  its  powers; 
that  is,  in  the  human  form.  The  human  form  is 
then  primarily  and  especially  the  form  of  the  soul  — 
which  is  the  perfection  of  all  forms,  as  man  at  his 
highest  is  the  consummation  and  fullness  of  all  lov- 
ing and  intelligent  attributes. 

"  But  when  does  the  soul  itself  take  on  its  human 
form?  Is  it  not  until  the  death  of  the  body?  Man- 
ifestly, if  it  is  the  very  form  of  the  soul,  the  soul 
can  not  exist  without  it,  and  it  is  put  on  in  and  by 
the  fact  of  its  creation  and  the  gradual  development 
of  its  powers.  It  could  have  no  other  form  and  be 
a  human  soul.  Its  organs  are  the  necessary  organs 
of  its  faculties  and  powers,  and  these  are  clothed 
with  their  similitudes  in  dead  material  forms  ani 
mated  by  the*  soul  for  temporary  use  in  the  material 
world.  Tlie  soul  is  omnipresent  in  the  material 
body,  not  by  diffusion,  formlessly,  but  each  organ 
of  the  soul  is  within  and  is  the  soul  of  the  corre- 
sponding organ  of  the  body;  so  that  every  organic 
form  of  the  body,  inward  and  outward,  is  the  mate- 
rial embodiment  and  counterpart  of  a  correspond- 
ing organ  of  the  soul,  by  which  the  soul  manifests 
and  puts  forth  its  affections  and  its  powers.  Thus 
the  saying  of  the  Apostle  Paul  is  literally  and 


A   RELIGIOUS   SYMPOSIUM.  265 

exactly  true,  that,  '  If  there  is  a  natural  body  there 
is  also  a  sx")iritual  body'  (I  Cor.  xv,  44),  and  that, 
'  If  the  earthly  house  of  our  tabernacle  be  dissolved, 
we  have  a  building  of  God,  a  house  not  made  with 
hands,  eternal  in  the  heavens '  (II  Cor.  v,  1). 

^'That  the  immortal  soul  is  the  very  man  involves 
the  eternal  preservation  of  his  identity;  for  in  the 
soul  are  the  distinguishing  qualities  that  constitute 
the  individuality  of  a  man  —  all  those  certain  char- 
acteristics, affectional  and  intellectual,  which  make 
him  such  or  such  a  man,  and  distinguish  and  differ- 
entiate him  from  all  other  men.  He  remains,  there- 
fore, the  same  man  to  all  eternity.  He  may  become 
more  and  more,  to  endless  ages,  an  angel  of  light  — 
even  as  here  a  man  may  advance  greatly  in  wisdom 
and  intelligence,  and  yet  is  always  the  same  man. 
This  doctrine  of  the  soul  involves  also  the  perma- 
nency of  established  character.  The  life  in  this 
world  is  the  period  of  character  building.  It  has 
been  very  truthfully  said  that  a  man  is  a  bundle  of 
habits.  What  manner  of  man  he  is  depends  on 
what  his  manner  of  life  has  been.  This  is  meant  by 
the  words  of  the  Scriptures,  '  Their  works  do  follow 
them'  (Rev.  xiv,  13),  and  'He  shall  render  unto 
every  man  according  to  his  deeds '  (Mark  xvi,  27). 

"If  evil  and  vicious  habits  are  continued  through 
life  they  are  fixed  and  confirmed  and  become  of  the 
very  life,  so  that  the  man  loves  and  desires  no  other 
life,  and  does  not  wish  to,  will  not  be  led  out  of 
them,  because  he  loves  the  practice  of  them.  On 
the  other  hand,  if  from  childhood  a  man  has  been 
inured  to  virtuous  habits,  these  habits  become  fixed 


266  world's  eeligious  congresses. 

and  established  and  of  his  very  soul  and  life.  In 
either  case  the  habits  thus  fixed  and  confirmed  are 
of  the  immortal  soul  and  constitute  its  permanent 
character.  The  body,  as  to  its  part,  has  been  but 
the  pliant  instrument  of  the  soul. 

' '  With  respect  to  the  soul' s  future  life  the  first 
important  consideration  is  what  sort  of  a  world  it 
will  inhabit.  If  we  have  shown  good  reasons  for 
believing  the  doctrine  that  the  soul  is  not  a  something 
formless,  vague,  and  shadowy,  but  is  itself  an 
organic  human  form,  substantial,  and  the  very  man, 
then  it  must  inhabit  a  substantial  and  very  real 
world.  It  is  a  gross  fallacy  of  the  senses  that  there 
is  no  substance  but  matter,  and  nothing  substantial 
but  what  is  material.  Is  not  God,  the  divine, 
omnipotent  Creator  of  all  things,  substantial  ?  Can 
Omnipotence  be  an  attribute  of  that  which  has  no 
substance  and  no  form?  Is  such  an  existence  con- 
ceivable? But  he  is  not  material  and  not  visible  or 
cognizable  by  any  mortal  sense.  Yet  we  know  that 
he  is  substantial;  for  it  is  manifest  in  his  wondrous 
and  mighty  works.  There  is,  then,  other  substance 
than  that  which  is  cognizable  to  the  senses,  there  is 
even  divine  substance;  and  if,  as  we  have  clearly 
shown,  the  soul  is  substantial,  there  is  spiritual  sub- 
stance. And  of  such  substance  must  be  the  world 
wherein  the  soul  is  eternally  to  dwell.  That  the 
spiritual  world  and  the  things  of  it  are  not  visible, 
and  not  cognizable  by  any  earthly  sense,  is  no  evi- 
dence that  they  are  unsubstantial  and  unreal.  The 
interior  and  most  potent  things  of  this  natural 
world  are  not  themselves  tangible  or  visible  or  cog- 


PRINCE  MOMOLU  MASSAQUOI, 

Of  the  Veys,  West  Africa. 


A   RELIGIOUS   SYMPOSIUM.  257 

nizable  by  any  sense.  It  is  proverbial  that  nature 
works  unseen.  What,  for  example,  do  we  know  ol' 
electricity  except  by  its  wonderful  phenomena?  Its 
phenomena,  its  wondrous  power  in  and  upon  things 
visible  and  tangible,  give  proof  of  it.  But  what  are 
these  to  the  stupendous  and  varied  powers  of  the 
spiritual  within  the  natural  universe  which  we  see 
about  us  in  all  the  phenomena  of  vegetable  life,  and 
even  in  the  inorganic  things  of  nature,  which  as 
servants  of  the  divine  Creator,  himself  invisible, 
inspire  and  effect  the  numberless  and  marvelous 
activities  which  make  an  otherwise  inert  and  dead 
material  world  to  be  quick  and  living,  and  filled 
with  all  things  beautiful  and  desirable  by  man.  It 
is  the  reality  of  the  spiritual  world  that  makes  this 
world  real,  just  as  it  is  the  reality  of  the  soul  that 
makes  the  human  body  a  reality  and  a  possibility. 
As  there  could  be  no  body  without  the  soul,  there 
could  be  no  natural  world  without  the  spiritual. 
Moreover,  as  it  is  not  rational  to  believe  that  the 
body  which  the  soul  briefly  inhabits  is  more  sub- 
stantial than  the  soul  itself,  which  endures  for- 
ever, so  it  does  not  satisfy  enlightened  reason  to 
think  that  this  world  which  is  the  place  of  man's 
temporary  sojourn  is  more  substantial  than  that 
which  the  soul  inhabits  forever  —  that  the  temporal 
is  substantial,  and  the  eternal  world  spectral  and 
unreal.  Indeed  every  rational  consideration,  how- 
ever viewed,  goes  to  coniirm  the  doctrine  that  the 
spiritual  world  is  a  substantial  and  real  world. 

"  Not  only  is  that  world  substantial,  but  it  must 
be  a  world  of  surpassing  loveliness  and  beauty.     It 

17 


258  world's  religious  congresses. 

has  justly  been  considered  one  of  the  most  benefi- 
cent manifestations  of  the  divine  love  and  wisdom 
that  this  beautiful  world  that  we  briefly  inhabit  is 
so  wondrously  adapted  to  all  man's  wants  and  to 
call  into  exercise  and  gratify  his  every  faculty  and 
good  desire.  And  when  he  leaves  this  temporary 
abode,  a  man  with  all  his  faculties  and  refined  by 
freedom  from  the  incumbrance  of  the  flesh,  an 
incumbrance  which  we  are  often  very  conscious  of, 
will  he  not  enter  a  world  of  beauty  exceeding  the 
loveliest  asx3ects  of  this  ?  The  soul  is  human,  and 
the  world  in  which  it  is  to  dwell  is  adapted  to 
human  life;  and  it;  would  not  be  adapted  to  human 
life  if  it  did  not  adequately  meet  and  answer  to  the 
soul's  desires.  Is  it  reasonable  that  this  material 
world  should  be  so  full  of  life  and  loveliness  and 
beauty,  where  '  Nature  spreads  for  every  sense  a 
feast,'  to  gratify  every  exalted  faculty  of  the  soul, 
and  not  the  spiritual  world  wherein  the  soul  is  to 
abide  forever  ?  Can  it  be  there  is  no  loveliness  of 
sight  and  sound,  no  springing,  joyful  life,  nothing 
to  excite  to  noble  contemplation  and  fill  the  mind 
with  gratitude  and  joy  ?  It  is  not  so;  but  rather  as 
it  is  written:  '  Eye  hath  not  seen,  nor  ear  heard, 
neither  have  entered  into  the  heart  of  man  the 
things  which  God  hath  prepared  for  them  that  love 
him'  (I  Cor.  ii,  9). 

"  And  the  life  of  that  world  is  human  life.  The 
same  laws  of  life  and  happiness  obtain  there  that 
govern  here,  because  they  are  grounded  in  human 
nature.  Man  is  a  social  being,  and  everywhere,  in 
that  world  as  in  this,  desires  and  seeks  the  com- 


A   RELIOIOUS   SYMPOSIUM.  259 

panionship  of  those  that  are  congenial  to  him  — 
that  is,  who  are  of  similar  quality  to  himself.  Men 
are  thus  mutually  drawn  together  by  spiritual 
affinity.  This  is  the  law  of  association  here,  but  it 
is  less  perfectly  operative  in  this  world,  because 
there  is  much  dissimulation  among  men,  so  that 
they  often  do  not  appear  to  be  what  they  really 
are,  and  thus  by  false  and  deceptive  appearances 
the  good  and  the  evil  are  often  associated  together. 
'^  And  so  it  is  for  a  time  and  in  a  measure  in  the 
first  state  and  region  into  which  men  come  when 
they  enter  the  spiritual  world.  They  go  into  that 
world  as  they  are,  and  are  at  first  in  a  mixed  state, 
as  in  this  world.  This  continues  until  the  real 
character  is  clearly  manifest,  and  good  and  evil 
are  separated,  and  they  are  thus  i^repared  for 
their  final  and  permanent  association  and  abode. 
They  who  in  the  world  have  made  some  real  effort 
and  beginning  to  live  a  good  life,  but  have  evil 
habits  not  yet  overcome,  remain  there  until  they 
are  entirely  purified  of  evil,  and  are  fitted  for  some 
society  of  heaven;  and  those  who  inwardly  are  evil 
and  have  outwardly  assumed  a  virtuous  garb  remain 
until  their  dissembled  goodness  is  cast  off  and  their 
inward  character  becomes  outwardly  manifest. 
When  this  state  of  separation  is  comi3lete  there  can 
be  no  successful  dissimulation  —  the  good  and  the 
evil  are  seen  and  known  as  such,  and  the  law  of 
si3iritual  affinity  becomes  perfectly  operative  by 
their  own  free  volition  and  choice.  Then  the  evil 
and  the  good  become  entirely  separated  into  their 
congenial  societies.     The  various  societies  and  com- 


260  world's  religious  congresses. 

munities  of  the  good  thus  associated  constitute 
heaven  and  those  of  the  evil  constitute  hell  —  not 
by  any  arbitrary  judgment  of  an  angry  God,  but  of 
voluntary  choice,  by  the  perfect  and  unhindered 
operation  of  the  law  of  human  nature  that  leads 
men  to  prefer  and  seek  the  companionship  of  those 
most  congenial  to  themselves. 

"As  regards  the  permanency  of  the  state  of  those 
who  by  established  evil  habit  are  fixed  and  deter- 
mined in  their  love  of  evil  life,  it  is  not  of  the  Lord's 
will,  but  of  their  own.  We  are  taught  in  his  holy 
Word  that  he  is  ever  'gracious  and  full  of  com- 
passion.' He  would  that  they  should  turn  from 
their  evil  ways  and  live,  but  they  will  not. 

"  There  is  no  moment,  in  this  or  in  the  future  life, 
when  the  infinite  mercy  of  the  Lord  would  not  that 
an' evil  man  should  turn  from  his  evil  course  and 
live  a  virtuous  and  upright  and  happy  life;  but 
they  will  not  in  that  world  for  the  same  reason  that 
they  would  not  in  this,  because  when  evil  habits  are 
once  fixed  and  confirmed  they  love  them  and  will 
not  turn  from  them.  '  Can  the  Ethiopian  change 
his  skin  or  the  leopard  his  spots  ?  Then  may  they 
also  do  good  that  are  accustomed  to  do  evil.' 
Heaven  is  a  heaven  of  men  and  the  life  of  heaven 
is  human  life.  The  conditions  of  life  in  that  exalted 
state  are  greatly  different  from  the  conditions  here, 
but  it  is  human  life  adapted  to  such  transcendent 
conditions,  and  the  laws  of  life  in  that  world,  as  we 
have  seen,  are  the  same  as  in  this.  Man  was  created 
to  be  a  free  and  willing  agent  of  the  Lord  to  bless 
his  kind.     His  true  happiness  comes,  not  in  seeking 


A   RELIGIOUS   SYMPOSIUM.  261 

happiness  for  himself,  but  seeking  to  promote  the 
happiness  of  others.  Where  all  are  animated  by 
this  desire,  all  are  mutually  and  reciprocally  blest. 
"Such  a  state  is  heaven,  whether  measurably  in 
this  world  or  fully  and  perfectly  in  the  next.  Then 
must  there  be  useful  ways  in  heaven  by  which  they 
can  contribute  to  each  other's  happiness.  And  of 
such  kind  will  be  the  employments  of  heaven,  for 
there  must  be  useful  employments.  There  could 
be  no  happiness  without  to  beings  who  are  designed 
and  formed  for  usefulness  to  others.  What  the 
employments  are  in  that  exalted  condition  we  can 
not  well  know  except  as  some  of  them  are  revealed 
to  us,  and  of  them  we  have  faint  and  feeble  con- 
ception. But  undoubtedly  one  of  them  is  attend- 
ance upon  men  in  this  world.  It  is  written,  and  the 
words  apply  to  every  man:  'He  shall  give  his 
angels  charge  over  thee,  to  keep  thee  in  all  thy  ways' 
(Ps.  xci,  11);  and,  'Are  they  not  all  ministering 
spirits,  sent  forth  to  minister  for  them  who  shall  be 
heirs  of  salvation?'  (Heb.  i,  14)." 

SOCIOLOGY. 

If  the  deliverances  before  the  parliament  on  the- 
ological subjects  are  not  all  that  could  be  wished,  if 
Christian  as  well  as  non-Christian  speakers  seemed 
less  clear  and  less  confident  than  we  had  hoped  on 
the  great  subjects  of  revelation,  and  reconciliation 
and  union  with  God,  and  man' s  future  life  and  ulti- 
mate destiny,  it  must  be  admitted  that  on  practical 
subjects,  and  in  the  realm  of  the  motive  and  method 
of  man's  helpfulness  to  man,  a  positive  and,  so  far 


262  world's  religious  congresses. 

as  it  goes,  a  clear  doctrine  was  set  forth.  Here  we 
meet  religion  in  a  new  aspect  and  girded  for  a  new 
experiment.  If  tlieology  is  becoming  less  exact 
and  confident  and  more  speculative,  practical 
religion,  at  least,  is  becoming  more  scientific. 
There  has  sprung  up  within  the  memory  of  this 
generation  a  new  science,  with  its  systematic  study 
of  the  whole  structure  of  society,  to  discover  its 
laws  and  remove  the  hindrances,  i3olitical,  econom- 
ical, or  customary,  which  are  in  the  way  of  its 
welfare.  It  has  given  new  emphasis  to  the  doctrine 
that  society  is  a  man;  that  "the  social  fabric  is  in 
its  structure  and  intent  a  unit,"  that  "  the  interde- 
pendence of  its  parts  is  as  a  body  with  its  many 
members  unified  by  a  common  vitality."  The  Lord 
had  declared  it;  Paul  had  expounded  it;  the  church 
had  once  and  again  asserted  it  as  the  bond  of  fel- 
lowship and  care  among  its  own  members;  but  in 
later  times  it  has  come  to  the  front  as  a  doctrine  of 
social  science  independent  of  religion  —  that  the 
law  ' '  Thou  shalt  love  thy  neighbor  as  thyself "  is  a 
"law  incorporated  in  the  nature  of  man;"  that  "men 
are  so  made  that  if  they  w^ould  secure  for  themselves, 
or  for  the  society  in  which  they  live,  perfection  and 
blessedness,  they  must  obey  this  law;"  that  "a 
rational  self  love  must  at  least  be  made  the  measure 
of  the  love  and  service  of  others; "  and  that  this  is  a 
law  of  nature  and  necessity,  and  when  violated  man 
comes  under  its  penalties. 

It  is  a  notable  fact  that  in  the  Parliament  of 
Religions  this  doctrine  of  social  science  was  taken 
up  in  the  name  of  religion,  and  treated  with  more 


A   RELIGIOUS    SYMPOSIUM.  263 

fullness  than  any  other  subject,  and  that,  moreover, 
as  the  one  practical  religious  consideration.  And 
it  was  here  that  Christian  thought  showed  its 
unmistakable  preeminence,  in  defining  ethical  doc- 
trines, to  which  the  non-Christian  peoples  are 
strangers,  and  in  which  they  are  to  find  their  social 
regeneration.  Papers  were  presented  on  ' '  Christ  and 
the  SocialQuestion,"  by  Pro!  F.  G.  Peabody  of  Har- 
vard University ;  on  ' '  Religion  and  Wealth, ' '  by  Rev . 
Washington  Gladden,  D.D. ;  on  "  Individual  Efforts 
at  Reform  not  Sufficient,"  by  Prof.  R.  C.  Henderson, 
D.D.,  of  the  University  of  Chicago;  on  "The  Church 
and  Labor,"  by  Rev.  James  M.  Cleary;  on  "Chris- 
tianity as  a  Social  Force,"  by  Prof.  Richard  T.  Ely 
of  the  University  of  Wisconsin;  "  Religion  and  the 
Erring  and  Criminal  Classes,"  by  Rev.  Anna  G. 
Spencer,  and  on  other  allied  subjects. 

This  remarkable  series  of  papers  was  introduced 
by  a  brief  speech  from  Thomas  Wentworth  Higgin- 
son,  who  called  attention  to  the  fact  that  the  subject 
of  the  day  marked  "a  natural  turning-point  in  the 
history  of  the  Parliament  of  Religions."  Up  to 
this  time,  he  said,  attention  had  been  given  almost 
wholly  to  speculative  and  abstract  ideas ;  now  it 
was  to  be  turned  to  the  actual  facts  of  life  and  the 
social  questions  which  press  upon  us  so  tremen- 
dously. He  told  a  characteristic  story  of  "the 
Scotch  candidate  for  the  ministry  who  was  being 
examined  by  some  of  the  sternest  of  the  presbyters, 
or  whatever  they  call  them.  Every  one  of  his  ex- 
aminers stood  firm  in  favor  of  justification  by  faith, 
and  each  one  had  fifteen  minutes  of  questions,  all 


264  world's  religious  congresses. 

bearing  upon  faith,  to  put  to  him.  By  and  by,  when 
the  candidate  was  in  an  exhausted  condition,  one 
indiscreet  examiner  said,  '  Well,  what  do  you  think 
of  good  works? '  '  Oh,'  said  the  exhausted  candi- 
date, looking  around  at  his  persecutors,  '  I'll  not 
say  that  it  might  not  be  well  enough  to  have  a  few 
of  them.'  "  Every  oriental  that  comes  to  us,  he 
said,  concedes  to  us  the  power  of  organization,  the 
power  of  labor,  the  method  in  actual  life,  which 
they  lack.  We  could  test  the  real  worth  of  these 
conceded  virtues  by  examining  how  far  they  have 
been  brought  to  bear  on  works  for  the  moral  and 
social  welfare  of  men. 

In  the  paper  on  ' '  Religion  and  the  Erring  and 
Criminal  Classes,"  Anna  Gr.  SjDencer  sought  to 
show  that  "not  only  does  religion  give  ethics  its 
root,  but  it  has  also  j)layed  an  enormous  part  in  the 
variations  of  the  moral  standards  of  the  world;" 
and  after  tracing  the  history  of  some  of  these  varia- 
tions, she  said: 

"  There  is  a  new  form  of  religion  dawning  upon 
the  Western  world,  and  I  believe  also  upon  the 
Eastern.  Christianity  was  and  is  a  composite  faith, 
compounded  of  Jewish  religious  ideals,  of  Greek 
thought,  Roman  organization,  and  of  Germanic 
racial  influences  of  domestic  and  social  habit.  The 
new  religious  ideal  which  is  shaping  the  reform 
movements  of  Christianity,  and  of  other  great  his- 
toric faiths  as  well,  is  the  outgrow^th  on  its  thought 
side  of  that  new  conception  of  the  universe  and  man's 
relation  to  it,  that  new  conception  which  is  cosmical 
and   universal  rather  than  racial  or  special.     The 


A   KELIGIOUS   SYMPOSIUM.  265 

new  religious  philosophy  finds  the  synthesis  of  all 
religions  in  the  universal  and  eternal  elements  of 
human  aspiration  toward  the  everlasting  truth, 
the  absolute  right,  the  boundless  love,  and  the  per- 
fect beauty!  This  conception,  in  brief,  puts  at  the 
center  of  all  things  perceived  or  experienced  '  one  law, 
one  light,  one  element,  and  one  far-off  divine  event 
toward  which  the  whole  creation  moves.'  This 
new  and  scientific  thought  conception  makes  of 
morals,  not  a  series  of  obligatory  commands  given 
by  one  Grod  or  many  gods  to  one  race  or  many  races, 
but  a  turning  of  the  will  of  man  by  the  force  of 
moral  gravitation  toward  that  central  law  which 
reveals  itself  in  the  human  conscience  and  is  de- 
veloped through  social  influences,  and  in  obedience 
to  which  alone  mankind  finds  his  true  orbit  of  action. 
This  view  of  morals,  which  is  fast  becoming  common 
to  all  enlightened  men  of  all  historic  faiths,  has 
already  started  the  newest  tendencies  in  the  treat- 
ment of  vice  and  crime.  Those  newest  tendencies 
we  set  down  as  reformatory,  those  which  aim  to 
make  over  the  criminal  and  erring  into  law-abiding 
and  respectable  members  of  society." 

"The  new  scientific  element  in  religion,"  she  said, 
"has  given  us  social  science  of  which  enlightened 
penology  is  a  part.  The  old  word  of  religion  said 
to  the  soul:  'Be  ye  perfect  here  and  now,  no  mat- 
ter how  ye  were  born  or  trained,  or  in  what  depths 
of  social  degradation  ye  find  yourself.'  The  new 
religion  says  that  also  —  such  forever  must  be  the 
clarion  call  to  the  will  to  work  out  a  personal  salva- 
tion or  it  will  cease  to  be  religion.     The  religion  of 


266  world's  religious  congresses. 

the  future,  however,  which  is  ah-eady  born,  has 
taken  counsel  of  facts  as  well  as  of  faith,  and  it  has 
added  the  social  ideal  to  the  personal.  It  has 
learned  that  evil  heredity,  and  poor  physique,  and 
degraded  home  influences,  and  bad  social  surround- 
ings, and  too  severe  toil,  and  too  little  happiness  and 
education  make  for  millions  of  mankind  walled  bar- 
riers of  circumstance,  behind  which  the  dull  and 
torpid  soul  catches  but  faint  echoes  of  the  divine 
summons.  The  relation  of  this  new  religion  to  the 
criminal  and  erring  classes  is  not  only  the  tender- 
ness of  human  sympathy  which  would  not  that  any 
should  perish ;  it  is  the  consecration  of  human  wis- 
dom to  social  betterment  which  shall  yet  forbid 
that  any  shall  perish.  In  this  new  ideal  of  religion 
the  call  is  not  only  to  justice  for  the  criminal  and 
erring  after  they  come  within  the  scope  of  social 
control,  but  it  is  the  call  also  to  a  study  of  those 
conditions  in  the  individual  and  in  society  which 
make  for  crime  and  vice;  and  above  all  it  is  tlie  call 
for  the  social  lifting  of  all  the  weaker  souls  of  our 
common  humanity  upon  the  winged  strength  of  its 
wisest  and  best.  The  new  social  ideal  in  religion 
calls  upon  us  to  make  this  world  so  helpful  a  place 
to  live  in  '  for  the  least  of  these  our  brethren '  that 
it  shall  yet  be  as  easy  for  the  will  to  follow  good- 
ness '  and  the  heart  to  be  true,  as  for  grass  to  be 
green  or  skies  to  be  blue,'  in  the  'natural  way  of 
living.' " 

What  she  calls   the  new  religion.  Prof.  F.  G. 
Peabody  contends  is  the  religion  of  the  gospels,  but 


A   RELIGIOUS   SYMPOSIUM.  267 

with  care  to  balance  the  importance  of  the  indi- 
vidual and  social  factors  as  objects  of  Christian  love. 
Pointing  out  that  the  theological  seminaries  are 
adding  the  new  field  of  sociology,  he  asks,  Is  there 
danger  that  the  new  humanitarianism  may  crowd 
out  the  old  religion? 

"When  the  Christian  turns  to  the  social  questions 
is  he,  on  the  one  hand,  turning  away  from  the 
themes  of  a  Christian  church,  or  is  he,  on  the  other 
hand,  sacrificing  Christ  to  society,  or  is  there,  lastly, 
any  law  laid  down  by  Christ  himself  which  directs 
a  Christian  in  his  study  of  such  affairs?  That  is  the 
question  with  which  we  turn  to  Christ,  and  he  gives 
us  a  clear  and  often-reiterated  reply.  One  of  the 
first  things  which  strikes  one  as  he  reads  the  gospels 
is  that  Jesus  Christ  was  a  great  individualist.  His 
appeal  is  always  to  the  single  life;  his  central  doc- 
trine of  humanity  is  that  of  the  infinite  worth  of 
each  single  soul. 

"Nothing  can  make  up  for  the  loss  of  the  indi- 
vidual. Tlie  shepherd  goes  out  after  the  one  lost 
sheep;  the  woman  sweeps  the  house  to  find  the  one 
bit  of  money;  the  gain  of  the  world  is  nothing  if  a 
man  loses  his  own  soul.  Thus  Christ  and  his  teach- 
ings stand  forever  over  against  the  schemes  which 
are  going  to  redeem  the  world  by  any  impersonal 
mechanical  plan.  He  seeks  to  save  men  one  at  a 
time;  his  kingdom  is  within;  he  calls  his  disciples 
singly;  he  calleth  his  own  sheep  by  name  and 
leadeth  them  out.  It  is  a  personal  relation,  an 
individual  work . ' ' 

Tijis  personal  method  of  Jesus,   he  shows,   has 


^68  world's  religious  congresses. 

given  the  idea  of  individual  worth,  and  influenced 
largely  the  effort  of  the  churches  to  benefit  men. 
And  then  he  turns  to  consider  "one  whole  side 
of  the  teaching  of  Jesus  which  such  a  view  entirely 
ignores.  Suppose  one  goes  on  to  ask  humbly: 
'  Why  does  Christ  thus  appeal  to  the  individual  ? 
Why  is  the  single  soul  of  such  infinite  worth  to 
him?  Is  it  for  its  own  sake?  Is  there  this  tre- 
mendous significance  about  my  little  being  and 
doing  that  it  has  its  own  isolated  worth  ? '  IS'ot  at  all. 
A  man' s  life,  taken  by  itself,  is  just  what  it  seems 
—  a  very  insignificant  affair.  What  is  it  that  gives 
significance  to  such  a  single  life  ?  It  is  its  relation 
to  the  whole  of  which  it  is  a  part.  Just  as  each 
minutest  wheel  is  essential  in  some  great  machine, 
just  as  the  health  of  each  slighted  limb  or  organ  in 
your  body  affects  the  vitality  and  health  of  the 
whole,  so  stands  the  individual  in  the  organic  life 
of  the  social  world.  'We  are  members  of  one 
another.'  'We  are  one  body  in  Christ;'  'no  man 
liveth  or  dieth  to  himself — so  runs  the  Christian 
conception  of  the  common  life;  and  in  this  organic 
relationshij)  the  individual  finds  the  meaning  and 
worth  of  his  own  isolated  self.  What  is  this  con- 
ception in  Christ's  own  language  ?  It  is  his  marvel- 
ous ideal  of  what  he  calls  'the  kingdom  of  God,' 
that  perfected  world  of  humanity  in  wliich,  as  in  a 
perfect  body,  each  part  should  be  sound  and  whole, 
and  thus  the  body  be  complete.  How  Jesus  looked 
and  prayed  for  this  coming  of  a  better  world !  The 
kingdom  of  heaven  is  the  ona  thing  to  desire.  It  is 
the  good    seed  of    the    future;    it    is    the    leaven 


A   KELIGIOUS   SYMPOSIUM.  269 

dropped  into  the  mass  of  the  world;  it  is  the  hidden 
treasure,  the  pearl  of  great  price.  It  may  come 
slowly,  as  servants  look  for  a  reckoning  after  years 
of  duty  done;  it  may  come  suddenly,  as  virgins 
wake  and  meet  the  bridegroom. 

"However  and  wherever  this  Christian  common- 
wealth, this  kingdom  of  God,  arrives,  then  and 
there  only  will  the  hopes  of  Jesus  be  fulfilled. 
'Thy  kingdom  come'  is  the  central  prayer  of  the 
disciple  of  Christ.  What  does  this  mean,  then,  as 
to  Christ's  thought  of  society?  It  means  that  a 
completed  social  order  was  his  highest  dream.  We 
have  seen  that  he  was  the  great  individualist  of 
history.  We  now  see  that  lie  was  the  great  social- 
ist as  well.  His  hope  for  man  was  a  universal  hope. 
What  he  prophesied  was  just  that  enlarged  and 
consolidated  life  of  man  which  many  modern  dreams 
repeat,  where  all  the  conflicts  of  selfishness  should 
be  outgrown,  and  there  should  be  one  kingdom  and 
one  king;  one  motive  —  that  of  love;  one  unity 
—  that  of  the  spirit;  one  law  —  that  of  liberty.  Was 
ever  socialistic  prophet  of  a  revolutionary  society 
more  daring,  or  sanguine,  or,  to  practical  minds, 
more  impracticable  than  this  visionary  Jesus  with 
his  assurance  of  a  coming  kingdom  of  God  ? 

''  But  how  can  it  be,  we  go  on  to  ask  once  more, 
that  the  same  teacher  can  teach  such  opposite 
truths  ?  How  can  Christ  appeal  thus  to  the  single 
soul  and  yet  hope  thus  for  the  kingdom?  How 
can  he  be  at  once  the  great  individualist  and  the 
great  socialist  of  history  ?  Are  we  confronted  with 
an  inconsistency  in  Christ's  doctrine  of  human  life  ? 


270  world's  religious  congresses. 

On  the  contrary,  we  reach  here  the  very  essence  of 
the  gospel  in  its  relation  to  human  needs.  The  two 
teachings,  that  of  the  individual  and  that  of  the 
social  order,  that  of  the  part  and  that  of  the  whole, 
are  not  exclusive  of  each  other  or  ojpposed  to  each 
other,  but  are  essential  parts  of  the  one  law  of  Christ. 
Why  is  the  individual  soul  of  such  inestimable 
value  ?  Because  of  its  essential  part  in  the  organic 
social  life.  And  why  is  the  kingdom  of  God  set 
before  each  individual?  To  free  him  from  all 
narrowness  and  selfishness  of  aim.  Think  of  those 
great  words  of  Jesus,  spoken  as  he  looked  back  on 
his  completed  work:  'For  their  sakes  I  sanctify 
myself. '  '  For  their  sakes '  —  that  is  the  sense  of  the 
common  life  working  as  a  motive  beyond  all  personal 
desire,  even  for  holiness  itself.  '  I  sanctify  myself ' 
—  that  is  the  way  in  which  the  common  life  is  to  be 
saved.  The  individual  is  the  means;  the  kingdom 
of  God  is  the  end. 

''The  way  to  make  a  better  world  is  first  of  all 
to  make  your  own  soul  better,  and  the  way  to  make 
your  own  soul  better  is  to  stir  it  with  the  sense 
of  the  common  life.  And  so  the  same  master  of  the 
problem  of  life  becomes  at  once  the  most  positive  of 
individualists  and  the  most  visionary  of  socialists. 
His  first  appeal  is  personal:  '  Sanctify  thyself.' 
His  second  call  is  to  the  common  life:  'For  their 
sakes  ' ;  and  the  end  and  the  means  together  make 
the  motto  of  a  Christian  life — 'For  their  sakes  I 
sanctify  myself.'  Such  is  Christ  in  his  dealing  with 
the  social  question.  He  does  not  ignore  the  social 
problems  of    any  age,   but    he  approaches    them 


A  RELIGIOUS   SYMPOSIUM.  271 

always  at  their  personal  ends.  With  unfailing 
sagacity  he  declines  to  be  drawn  into  special 
questions  of  legislation  or  programmes  of  reform. 
Changes  of  government  are  not  for  him  to  make. 
'Render  unto  Csesar  the  things  that  are  Caesar's.' 
The  precise  form  of  the  coming  kingdom  is  not  for 
him  to  define.  '  To  sit  on  my  right  hand  is  not  mine 
to  give.'  It  is  in  vain  to  claim  Jesus  Christ  as  the 
expounder  of  any  social  panacea.  He  simply  brings 
all  such  schemes  and  dreams  to  the  test  of  a  uni- 
versal principle,  the  princijjle  of  sanctifying  one's 
self  for  others'  sakes,  the  two-fold  principle  of  the 
infinite  worth  of  the  individual  and  the  infinite 
hope  of  a  kingdom  of  God,  and  of  every  plan  and 
work  which  is  proposed  for  social  welfare,  Christ 
says:  'Let  it  begin  with  the  individual  —  his 
character,  his  liberty,  his  enlargement  of  life  —  and 
then  out  of  this  individual  sanctification  will  grow 
the  better  social  world.'  " 

Professor  Peabody  admits  that  we  have  not  ad- 
vanced far  in  the  solution  of  these  problems;  pan- 
aceas have  not  worked,  and  individual  reformation 
does  not  seem  to  issue  in  works  that  have  much 
social  value.  He  turns  to  ask  Christ's  method 
toward  poverty,  and  shows  that  what  he  wants  is 
man' s  soul  ' '  trained  into  personal  power,  individual 
capacity,  self-help,"  and  concludes  there  is  more 
"  Christian  charity  in  teaching  a  trade  than  in  alms, 
in  finding  work  than  in  relieving  want."  He  turns 
on  the  other  hand  to  ask  Christ  s  attitude  toward 
the  rich,  and  concludes  that  his  condemnation  "was 


272  world's  religious  congresses. 

directed,  not  against  the  fact  of  wealth,  but  against 
the  abuses  and  perils  of  wealth."  He  would  have 
us  warned  of  the  same  dangers  to-day.  "  We  might 
as  well  face  the  fact  that  one  of  the  severest  tests  of 
character  which  our  time  affords  has  to  be  borne  by 
the  rich.  The  person  who  proi3oses  to  maintain 
simiDlicity  and  symjpathy,  responsibility  and  high- 
mindedness  in  tlie  midst  of  the  wealth  and  luxury 
of  the  modern  times  is  undertaking  that  which  he 
had  better  at  once  understand  to  be  very  hard.  The 
rich  have  some  advantages,  but  they  unmistakably 
have  also  many  disadvantages,  and  the  Christianiza- 
tion  of  wealth  is  beyond  question  the  most  serious  of 
modern  problems.  But  this  is  not  saying  that  rich 
men  should  be  abolished.  Wealth  only  provides  a 
severer  school  for  the  higher  virtues  of  life,  and  the 
man  or  woman  who  can  really  learn  the  lesson  of 
that  school  has  gained  one  of  the  hardest,  but  also 
one  of  the  most  fruitful,  experiences  of  modern 
times." 

He  concludes  that  in  the  complications  of  modern 
society  wealth  has  a  new  function,  and  in  its  admin- 
istration the  Christian  has  a  new  mission.  ' '  Christ 
comes  into  the  business  world  of  to-day  and,  seek- 
ing the  man  who  wants  to  be  his  disciple,  says  to 
him,  '  This  world  of  affairs  is  not  to  be  abandoned, 
nor  yet  to  be  feared;  it  is  to  be  redeemed.  Enter 
into  it.  Be  as  sagacious,  far-sighted,  intelligent, 
judicious  as  the  children  of  this  world.  Be  a 
thoughtful,  good  man  of  business.  And  then  add 
to  this  self- culture  the  larger  motive,  the  bringing 
in  of  my  kingdom.     Ask  yourself  this  question  of 


A   RELIGIOUS   SYMPOSIUM.  273 

your  business  :  'Am  I  in  it  hindering  or  helping  the 
better  life  of  men  ?  Am  I  in  any  degree  responsible 
for  the  ends  of  the  present  industrial  system,  or  am 
I  lessening  them  by  the  methods  of  my  own  ?  Is 
my  success  at  the  cost  of  my  employes'  degradation, 
or  do  they  share  the  satisfaction  of  my  own  pros- 
perity? In  short,  am  I  helping  to  make  this  w^orld 
God' s  world,  or  would  it,  if  all  dealt  as  I  do,  soon 
be  the  devil's  world ? '  Then,  having  answered  this 
question  in  your  soul,  realize  still  further  how  many 
of  the  first  signs  of  the  coming  kingdom  wait  for 
business  men  to  show.' 

"The  Christian  in  business  to-day  is  looking  for 
every  stable  relation  between  employer  and  em- 
ployed. Cooperation  is  to  him  better  than  compe- 
tition. He  sees  his  own  life  in  the  light  of  the 
common  good.  The  Christian  in  business  discov- 
ers that  good  lodgings  for  the  w^orking  classes  are 
both  wise  charity  and  good  business.  The  Christian 
in  business  holds  his  sagacity  and  insight  at  the 
service  of  public  affairs.  He  is  not  ensnared  in  the 
meshes  of  his  own  prosperity.  He  owns  his  wealth; 
it  does  not  own  him.  The  community  leans  on  him 
instead  of  his  being  a  dead  weight  on  the  commu- 
nity. He  teaches  us  the  higher  use  of  wealth  instead 
of  warning  us  of  its  fearful  perils.  And  when  the 
Christian  business  man  dies  the  properties  he  has 
controlled  do  not  rise  in  the  market  because  the 
risk  of  his  management  is  gone,  but  the  business 
world  says  of  him,  'This  man  was  a  consistent 
Christian.  He  did  not  fear  or  flee  from  the  world, 
but  he  made  it  the  instrument  of  the  higher  life  of 

18 


274  wokld's  religious  congresses. 

man.     In  this  world's  battles  he  was  a  good  soldier 
of  Jesus  Christ.'  " 

Prof.  Eichard  T.  Ely  spoke  in  more  emphatic  and 
positive  terms  of  ' '  Christianity  as  a  Social  Force, ' ' 
to  show  that  individualism,  as  commonly  under- 
stood, is  non-Christian.  Wealth,  and  talent,  and 
I^osition,  and  powers  are  in  trust  for  the  common 
good,  and  individual  salvation  which  ignores  this  is 
not,  within  the  true  Christian  idea,  possible.  OfPer- 
ing  some  severe  criticism  of  the  social  condition  of 
Christendom,   Professor  Ely  concludes  as  follows : 

"  We  may  thus  say  that  Christianity  as  a  social 
force  stands  for  the  conservation  of  energy.  It 
seeks  the  utilization  of  all  human  power  for  the 
advancement  of  the  welfare  of  man,  and  it  tends  to 
preserve  the  achievements  of  the  past  because  it 
means  peaceful  progress.  It  may  be  thus  said  that 
Christianity  stands  for  progress  emphatically,  but 
for  conservative  progress.  Christianity  means  a 
mighty  transformation  and  turning  of  things  upside 
down,  and  while  it  seef^s  to  bring  about  the  most 
radical  changes  in  peace,  it  has  forces  within  it 
which  nothing  can  withstand  and  resistance  to  which 
is  sure  to  result  in  revolutionary  violence.  It  is 
true  that  Christ  said  he  came  to  bring  not  peace, 
but  a  Fword  —  signifying  the  opposition  of  malevo- 
lence to  social  progress;  yet  a  fruitless  opposition, 
for  in  the  end  the  peace  of  Christ  must  triumph. 
We  can  imagine  Christ  among  us  to-day,  pointing, 
as  of  old,  to  our  great  temples  and  warning  us  that 
the  time  will  come  when  one  stone  of  them  shall  not 


A   RELIGIOUS   SYMPOSIUM.  275 

rest  upon  another.  We  can  imagine  Christ  x)olnt- 
ing  to  our  grade  crossings  and  to  our  link  and  pin 
couplers,  covered  with  the  blood  of  mutilated  brake- 
men,  and  crying  out  to  us:  '  Woe  unto  you,  hyi)0- 
crites!  Ye  do  these  things,  and  for  a  pretense  make 
long  prayers.'  We  can  also  imagine  him  summon- 
ing before  our  vision  the  thousands  who  have  lost 
their  limbs  in  needless  industrial  accidents,  and 
pointing  to  the  hospitals  to  relieve  them,  and  the 
charities  to  furnish  them  with  artificial  limbs,  and 
again  uttering  one  of  his  terrible  maledictions:  '  Woe 
unto  you,  hypocrites! '  We  can  also  imagine  him 
in  his  scathing  denunciations  and  heart-searching 
sermons  opening  our  eyes  to  our  social  iniquities 
and  shortcomings,  and  calling  to  mind  the  judgment 
to  come  in  which  reward  or  penalty  shall  be  visited 
upon  us,  either  as  we  have  or  have  not  ministered 
to  those  who  needed  our  ministrations  —  the  hungry, 
the  naked,  the  prisoner,  and  the  cax3tive.  The 
reward:  '  Come,  ye  blessed  of  my  Father,  inasmuch 
as  ye  have  done  it  unto  the  least  of  these  ye  have 
done  it  unto  me;'  the  penalty:  'Inasmuch  as  ye 
have  not  done  it  unto  the  least  of  these  —  depart 
from  me.' " 

Discussing  "Religion  and  Riches,"  the  Rev. 
Washington  Gladden,  so  well  and  widely  known  in 
this  field  of  research,  declared  "poverty  and  per- 
fection incompatible,"  and  held  that  "  the  religious 
man  must  be  a  co-worker  with  God,  not  only  in  the 
production  of  wealth,  but  also  in  the  distribution  of 
wealth."  In  answering  the  question,  "  Can  we  dis- 
cover God's  plan  for  this  distribution? "  he  says: 


276  world's  religious  congresses. 

"  It  is  pretty  clear  that  the  world  has  not  as  yet 
discovered  God's  plan.  The  existing  distribution  is 
far  from  being  ideal.  While  tens  of  thousands  are 
rioting  in  superfluity,  hundreds  of  thousands  are 
suffering  for  the  lack  of  the  necessaries  of  life;  some 
are  even  starving.  That  the  suffering  is  often  due 
to  indolence  and  improvidence  and  vice  —  a  natural 
penalty  which  ought  to  be  set  aside — may  be  freely 
admitted,  but  when  that  is  all  taken  account  of  there 
is  a  great  deal  of  x^enury  left  which  it  is  hard  to 
justify  in  view  of  the  opulence  everywhere  visible. 
What  is  the  rule  by  which  the  wealth  of  the  world 
is  now  distributed?  Fundamentally,  I  think,  it  is 
the  rule  of  the  strongest.  The  rule  has  been  greatly 
modified  in  the  progress  of  civilization;  a  great 
many  kinds  of  violence  are  now  i)rohibited;  in  many 
ways  the  weak  are  protected  by  law  against  the  en- 
croachments of  the  strong;  human  rapacity  is  con- 
fined within  certain  metes  and  bounds;  nevertheless, 
the  wealth  of  the  world  is  still,  in  the  main,  the 
prize  of.  strength  and  skill.  Our  laws  furnish  the 
rules  of  the  game,  but  the  game  is  essentially  as 
Kob  Roy  describes  it.  To  every  one  according  to 
his  power  is  the  underlying  principle  of  the  present 
system  of  distribution.  It  is  evident  that  under 
such  a  system,  in  spite  of  legal  restraints,  the  strong 
will  trample  upon  the  weak.  We  can  not  believe 
that  such  a  system  can  be  in  accordance  with  the 
will  of  a  Father  to  whom  the  poor  and  needy  are 
the  especial  objects  of  care." 

Discussing  the  three  socialistic  principles  which 
have  been  by  one  and  another  suggested,   ' '  to  every 


A   RELIGIOUS   SYMPOSIUM.  277 

one  alike;  to  every  one  according  to  his  needs;  to 
every  one  according  to  his  work,"  he  thinks  it  evi- 
dent "that  none  of  these  methods,  taken  by  itself, 
would  furnish  a  rule  in  perfect  harmony  with  divine 
justice  and  benignity.  The  communistic  rule  is 
clearly  unjust  and  impracticable.  To  give  to  all  an 
equal  j)ortion  would  be  wasteful  in  the  extreme,  for 
some  could  by  no  possibility  use  their  portion;  much 
of  it  would  be  squandered  and  lost.  Some  could  use 
productively  and  beneficently  ten  times,  or  even  a 
thousand  times  more  than  others.  The  divine  wis- 
dom must  follow  somewhat  closely  the  rule  of  the 
man  in  the  parable  who  distributed  his  goods  among 
his  servants,  giving  '  to  every  man  according  to  his 
several  ability.'  But  ability  here  is  not  ability  to 
take,  but  ability  to  use  beneficently  and  product- 
ively, which  is  a  very  different  matter."  And  he 
concludes  that  ' '  the  divine  plan  must,  therefore,  be 
that  wealth  shall  be  so  distributed  as  to  secure  the 
greatest  results.  And  religion,  which  seeks  to  dis- 
cern and  follow  the  divine  plan,  must  teach  that  the 
wealth  of  the  world  will  be  rightly  distributed  only 
when  every  man  shall  have  as  much  as  he  can  wisely 
use  to  make  himself  a  better  man  and  the  community 
in  which  he  lives  a  better  community  —  so  much  and 
no  more." 

In  a  paper  on  "Churches  and  City  Problems," 
Prof.  A.  W.  Small,  Ph.  D.,  of  the  University  of 
Chicago,  declared  that  "churches  as  such  do  not 
think  the  thoughts,  nor  talk  the  language,  nor 
share  the  burdens  which,  for  the  masses  in  cities, 


278 


contain  the  real  problems  in  life. "  "  The  chnrches, ' ' 
he  says  again,  "have  no  explicit  policy  toward  city 
problems;  lack  intelligent  interest  in  them;  they 
are  even  suspicious  of  every  endeavor  to  commit 
the  churches  to  cooperation  insolations."  He  con- 
cludes that  the  churcbes  must  choose  between  the 
only  alternatives:  "First,  they  may  confine  them- 
selves to  the  functions  of  spiritual  edification,  of 
indoctrinating  the  children  of  their  members,  of 
defending  tlieir  denominational  orthodoxy,  and  of 
evangelizing  at  home  and  abroad;"  or  "  second,  they 
may  accept  the  full  responsibility  of  revealers  and 
realizers  of  right  relations  of  men  to  each  other  as 
well  as  of  men  to  God."  In  choosing  the  first  alter- 
native the  function  might  be  logically  fundamental, 
but  it  must  prove  practically  partial  and  self -limit- 
ing. In  choosing  the  other  alternative,  there  must 
be  interdenominational  organization  and  coopera- 
tion, on  the  basis  of  brotherhood,  without  sinking 
doctrinal  differences. 

Professor  Small  notes  that  recent  papal  deliv- 
erances ux)on  the  attitude  of  the  Roman  church 
toward  "  labor  problems "  are  perhaps  the  nearest 
api)roach  to  a  settlement  of  denominational  policy 
with  reference  to  any  of  these  problems.  A  paper 
by  Charles  F.  Donnelly,  on  "The  Relations  of  the 
Roman  Catholic  Church  to  the  Poor  and  Destitute," 
traced  the  history  of  her  St.  Vincent  de  Paul  and 
other  societies  based  on  the  principle  of  charity 
which  would  lift  men  int)  conditions  of  integ- 
rity and  self-help,  both  morally  and  materially. 


A   RELIGIOUS   SYMPOSIUM.  279 

Another  by  the  Rev.  James  M.  Cleary  defined  the 
position  of  the  church  with  reference  to  ''Labor 
Problems"  as  follows: 

"  The  church  having  taught  every  chikl.  of  Adam 
who  earned  his  bread  by  laborious  toil  to  assert  his 
own  dignity  and  to  understand  his  own  worth,  and 
having  hitherto  led  a  hopeless  multitude  from  the 
dismal  gloom  of  slavery  to  the  cheering  brightness 
of  the  liberty  of  the  children  of  God,  bravely 
defended  the  riglits  and  the  privileges  of  her  eman- 
cipated children.  'Tlie  church  has  regarded  with 
religious  care  the  inheritance  of  the  poor.'  The 
poor  are  the  special  charge  of  the  church.  Every 
living  soul  is  in  God's  immediate  care,  the  rich  as 
well  as  the  poor;  there  is  no  distinction  of  class  or 
privilege  with  him.  Every  soul,  whether  refined  or 
rude,  is  in  his  keeping.  But  with  an  especial  care 
he  watches  over  those  who  '  eat  bread  in  the  sweat 
of  their  brow.'  None  need  the  Divine  Comforter 
more  than  the  weary  children  of  toil,  and  none  need 
and  have  received  the  sympathy  of  the  church  as 
they  do.  In  his  exhaustive  encyclical  on  the  con- 
dition of  labor  Leo  XIII.  lays  down  the  princij)le 
that  the  workman' s  wages  is  not  a  problem  to  be 
solved  by  the  pitiless  arithmetic  of  avaricious  greed. 
The  wage-earner  has  rights  which  he  can  not  sur- 
render, and  which  no  man  can  take  from  him,  for 
he  is  an  intelligent,  responsible  being  owing  hom- 
age to  God  and  duties  to  human  society.  His 
recompense,  then,  for  his  daily  toil  can  not  be 
measured  by  a  heartless  standard  of  supply  and 
demand,  or  a  cruel  code  of  inhuman  economics,  for 


280  world's  religious  congresses. 

man  is  not  a  money-making  machine,  but  a  citizen 
of  earth  and  an  heir  to  the  kingdom  of  heaven.  He 
has  a  right,  of  which  no  man  has  the  power  to 
deprive  him,  '  to  the  pursuit  of  life,  liberty,  and 
happiness.'  Every  man  has  a  God-given  right  to 
live  in  decency  and  comfort. .  Labor  has  a  right  to 
freedom;  labor  has  also  a  right  to  protect  its  ow^n 
independence  and  liberty.  Hence  labor  unions  are 
lawful  and  have  enjoyed  the  sanction  and  protec- 
tion of  the  church  in  all  ages.  Our  times  have  wit- 
nessed no  more  edifying  spectacle  than  the  noble, 
unselfish  pleading  of  our  own  Cardinal  Gibbons  for 
the  cause  of  organized  labor  at  the  See  of  Peter. 
In  organization  there  is  strength,  but  labor  must 
use  its  power  for  its  own  protection,  not  for  invad- 
ing the  rights  of  others.  The  strike,  or  refusal  of 
united  labor  to  work,  is  a  declaration  of  w^ar,  for  it 
seriously  disturbs  many  human  activities.  It  is 
justifiable  only  and  should  be  resorted  to  only  when 
all  other  means  have  failed,  when  every  other 
expedient  has  been  exhausted,  and  can  be  defended 
only  on  the  plea  that  the  workman  is  treated 
unjustly  by  organized  capital.  That  form  of  strike, 
however,  by  which  labor  unions  use  unlawful  means 
to  prevent  willing  men  who  are  anxious  to  earn  a 
livelihood  for  their  families  from  engaging  in  honest 
work  can  in  no  way  be  defended,  and  must  surely  fall 
under  the  unqualified  censure  of  religion.  Labor  has 
a  right,  it  is  true,  to  prevent  its  own  degradation, 
and  is  justified  in  insisting  that  wages  shall  not  be 
so  reduced  as  to  prevent  Christian  men  from  living 
like  civilized  beings,  but  religion,  which  is  the  guar- 


A   RELIGIOUS   SYMPOSIUM.  281 

dian  angel  of  social  order  and  just  law,  must  insist 
that  when  such  evils  threaten  society  they  are  rem- 
edied by  legislation  and  not  by  appeals  to  force. 

"Our  Christian  civilization  must  not  be  endan- 
gered by  false  maxims  and  harsh  methods  of  social 
economy.  Our  civilization  is  a  failure  if  it  aims 
only  at  the  protection  of  wealth  and  the  guardian- 
ship of  property.  • 

"111  fares  the  land,  to  hastening  ills  a  prey, 
Where  wealth  accumulates  and  men  decay. 

' '  Men  are  more  precious  than  money.  The  con- 
tented Christian  homes  of  an  intelligent  people, 
happy  in  the  opportunity  of  earning  a  decent  com- 
petence for  present  and  future  needs,  are  the  safest 
and  most  hopeful  support  of  a  nation  and  encour- 
aging evidences  of  national  prosperity.  Religion's 
duty  is  to  teach  the  rich  the  responsibilities  of 
wealth  and  the  poor  respect  for  order  and  law. 
The  security  of  capital  against  the  discontent  and 
envy  of  labor  is  the  best  security  also  for  the  work- 
ingman.  When  capital  becomes  timid  and  shrinks 
from  the  hazard  of  investment,  labor  soon  feels  the 
pangs  of  hunger,  and  the  dread  specter  of  want 
casts  its  dismal  shadow  over  many  a  humble  home. 

''Religion  is  the  only  influence  that  has  been  able 
to  subdue  the  pride  and  the  passions  of  men,  to 
refine  the  manners  and  guide  the  conduct  of  human 
society,  so  that  rich  and  poor  alike,  mindful  of  their 
common  destiny,  respect  each  other's  rights,  their 
mutual  dependence,  and  the  rights  of  their  common 
Father  in  heaven.  The  religious  teachers  and  guides 
who  apply  the  principles  of  the   '  Sermon  on  the 


283  woeld's  religioijs  congresses. 

Mount'  to  the  everj-day  affairs  of  men,  and  lead 
humanity  ui)ward  to  a  better  and  nobler  realization 
of  God's  compassion  for  the  weary  ones  of  earth, 
will  merit  the  undying  gratitude  of  men  and  heav- 
en's choicest  rewards." 

Space  will  not  admit  of  further  analysis  of  this 
valuable  series  of  papers.  If  the  result  in  outline 
of  methods  of  social  reform  is  not  wholly  satisfac- 
tory, it  is  at  least  evident  that  the  religious  motive 
for  the  study  and  solution  of  social  problems  has 
received  eminent  consideration,  and  is  asserted  with 
a  unanimity  which  demonstrates  great  progress  in 
Christendom  along  these  lines,  if  the  study  of 
sociology  and  efforts  in  social  reform  have  to  be 
carried  on  for  the  most  part  indepf,ndent  of  Chris- 
tian ecclesiastical  organizations,  it  is  evident  that 
its  advocates  intend  to  claim  the  sanction  and 
authority  of  Christ  and  the  gospels  in  the  adjust- 
ment of  the  inherent  and  necessary  rights  and  re- 
sponsibilities of  the  individual  and  the  social  body, 
under  the  ideal  of  the  voluntary  contribution  of  each 
to  the  common  good  and  of  all  to  the  good  of  each. 

WOMAN. 

"The  place  which  woman  has  taken  in  the  Par- 
liament of  Religions  and  in  the  denomifjational 
congresses,"  said  the  remarkably  efficient  and  ever- 
gracious  president  of  the  woman's  branch,  Mrs. 
Charles  Henrotin,  in  her  concluding  address,  "is 
one  of  such  great  importance  that  it  is  entitled  to 
your  careful  attention." 


A   RELIGIOUS  SYMPOSIUM.  283 

It  will  interest  many  to  know  what  place 
exactly  woman  occupied  to  lier  own  highest  honor, 
and  as  indicating  the  field  of  her  most  permanent 
achievements,  in  the  judgment  of  this  executive 
woman,  who  had  such  exceptional  opx^ortunities 
for  estimating  the  value  of  the  work  of  her  sister 
co-laborers.  The  series  of  auxiliary  congresses 
w^as  opened  in  May  with  a  congress  of  representa- 
tive women,  wiiich  was  one  of  the  most  largely 
attended  and  popular  in  the  whole  series.  This, 
with  the  active  part  taken  by  women  in  all  the  suc- 
ceeding congresses,  led  many  to  wonder  if  the  order 
of  the  world  might  not  be  changing,  and  woman  be 
destined  to  take  the  lead  in  the  forensic  work  which 
has  heretofore  been  assumed  to  belong  to  man. 
The  men  and  women  who  worked  together  on  com- 
mittees, in  the  laborious  and  varied  preparations 
which  were  necessary  to  the  success  of  the  con- 
gresses, knew  well  that  if  the  field  of  her  endeavor 
is  enlarging,  her  power  is  just  what  it  has  always 
been  —  the  power  of  patient,  persistent,  gracious, 
and  humanizing  work.  It  is  interesting  in  this 
connection  to  have  the  following  testimony  from 
such  a  representative  of  her  sex  as  Mrs.  Henrotin: 

"As  day  by  day  the  parliament  has  presented 
the  resnlt  of  the  preliminary  work  of  two  years,  it 
may  have  appeared  to  you  an  easy  thing  to  put 
into  motion  the  forces  of  which  this  evening  is  the 
crowning  achievement,  but  to  bring  about  this 
result  hundreds  of  men  and  women  have  labored. 
There  are  sixteen  committees  of  women  in  the  vari- 
ous departments  represented  in  the  Parliament  of 


284 

Religions  and  denominational  congresses,  with  a 
total  membership  of  228.  In  many  cases  the  men's 
and  the  women's  committee  have  elected  to  work  as 
one  and  in  others  the  women  have  held  separate 
congresses.  Sixteen  women  have  spoken  in  the  Par- 
liament of  Religions,  and  that  more  did  not  appear 
is  due  to  the  fact  that  the  denominational  commit- 
tee had  secured  the  most  prominent  women  for  their 
presentation.  Doctor  Barrows  treated  the  woman's 
branch  with  that  courtesy  and  consideration,  and  I 
may  add  Justice,  which  he  has  extended  to  the  rep- 
resentatives of  every  creed.  In  the  denominational 
congresses  the  first  in  order,  was  that  of  the  Jewish 
women,  and  here  is  the  key-note  to  woman's  position 
in  the  modern  religious  world.  It  is  that  of  the 
worker,  for  it  is  not  in  the  Parliament  of  Religions, 
as  able  as  have  been  the  women  representing  her  in 
the  parliament,  that  you  can  judge  of  the  tremen- 
dous power  which  she  wields.  It  is  in  the  denom- 
inational congress  that  her  work  is  best  illustrated. 
' '  In  the  Roman  Catholic  congress  the  work  of  the 
women  for  their  church  was  most  ably  presented. 
His  Eminence  Cardinal  Gibbons,  in  his  paper,  '  The 
Needs  of  Humanity  Supplied  by  the  Catholic  Re- 
ligion,' demonstrated  that  the  needs  of  humanity 
were  ministered  unto  by  women,  laity  as  well 
as  sisters,  in  the  Catholic  church.  His  paper 
could  fitly  have  been  named,  '  What  Woman  Has 
Accomplished  for  the  Catholic  Church.'  The  con- 
gress of  the  Jewish  women  was  a  memorable 
occasion,  as  it  was  the  first  time  in  the  world's 
history  that  the  Jewish  women  met  together  as 


A   EELIGIOUS   SYMPOSIUM.  285 

a  religious  power.  Eighty-five  delegates  from  the 
different  Jewish  communities  from  all  parts  of  the 
United  States  were  present,  and  before  this  con- 
gress adjourned  an  international  association  of  Jew- 
ish women  was  formed,  and  if  it  brings  into  the 
religious  world  the  same  zeal  which  has  animated 
that  historic  race,  it  is  easy  to  conceive  what  a  tre- 
mendous force  has  here  been  put  into  motion.  The 
committee  of  Congregational  women  held  an  inter- 
esting session  treating  of  practical  questions  con- 
nected with  church  work.  The  women  of  the 
Lutheran  church  succeeded  in  uniting  the  Lutheran 
women  all  over  the  United  States  in  one  congress, 
and  held  four  sessions  in  which  Lutheran  women 
spoke  on  the  work  of  women  in  their  church. 
Before  this  congress  closed  an  international  league 
of  Lutheran  women  was  formed.  The  King's 
Daughters  i^resented  their  work  on  Monday,  Octo- 
ber 2d.  In  all  the  other  denominational  congresses 
women  have  presented  their  work  in  the  general 
congress.  Two  hundred  and  twelve  women  have 
taken  part  in  the  denominational  and  mission  con- 
gresses. Now  the  question  presents  itself,  along 
what  line  of  thought  have  most  of  these  women  pre- 
sented papers?  And  I  may  truly  answer  that  tliey 
liaise  treated  of  practical  efforts  for  the  bettering  of 
social  conditions." 

In  the  many  excellent  papers  presented  by  women 
on  the  theory  of  woman's  place  and  work  in  the 
world,  many  suggestions  were  set  forth,  but  the  one 
assured    conviction  and  purpose  running  through 


286 

them  all  is  perhaps  most  adequately  voiced  by  the 
following  passages  from  Miss  Willard' s  address: 

''We  are  then  beginning  to  train  those  with  each 
other  who  were  formed  for  each  other,  and  tlie  Eng- 
lish-speaking home,  with  its  Christian  method  of  a 
twofold  headship,  based  on  laws  natural  and  divine, 
is  steadily  rooting  out  all  that  remains  of  the  me- 
dieval, continental,  and  harem  philosophies  con- 
cerning this  greatest  problem  of  all  time.  Tlie  true 
relations  of  that  complex  being  whom  God  created 
by  uttering  the  mystic  thought  that  had  in  it  the 
potency  of  paradise,  '  In  our  own  image  let  us  make 
man,  and  let  him  have  dominion  over  all  the  earth,' 
will  ere  long  be  ascertained  by  means  of  the  new 
correlation  and  attuning  each  to  other  of  a  more 
complete  humanity  upon  the  Christ-like  basis  that 
'there  shall  be  no  more  curse.'  " 

"  She  is  the  embodiment  of  what  sLall  be.  In  an 
age  of  force  woman's  greatest  grace  was  to  cling; 
in  this  age  of  peace  she  doesn't  cling  much,  but  is 
every  bit  as  tender  and  as  sweet  as  if  she  did.  She 
has  strength  and  individuality,  a  gentle  serious- 
ness; there  is  more  of  a  sister,  less  of  the  siren; 
more  of  the  duchess  and  less  of  the  doll.  Woman 
is  becoming  what  God  meant  her  to  be,  and  Christ's 
gospel  necessitates  her  being,  the  companion  and 
counselor,  not  the  incumbrance  and  toy,  of  men. 
To  meet  this  new  creation  how  grandly  men  them- 
selves are  growing,  how  considerate  and  brotherly, 
how  pure  in  word  and  deed!  The  world  has  never 
yet  known  half  the  aptitude  of  character  and  life 
to  which  men  will  attain  when  they  and  women  live 


A   RELIGIOUS   SYMPOSIUM.  '  287 

in  the  same  world.  It  doth  not  yet  appear  what  they 
shall  be,  or  we  either,  for  that  matter,  but  in  many 
a  home  presided  over  by  a  temperance  voter  and  a 
white-ribbon  worker  I  have  thought  the  heavenly 
vision  was  really  coming  down  to  terra  firm  a.  With 
all  my  heart  I  believe,  as  do  the  best  men  of  the 
nation,  that  woman  will  bless  and  brighten  every 
place  she  enters,  and  that  she  will  enter  every  place. 
Its  welcome  of  her  presence  and  her  power  will  be 
the  final  test  of  any  institution's  fitness  to  survive." 

As  Mrs.  Henrotin  said:  "It  is  too  soon  to  prog- 
nosticate woman's  future  in  the  churches. 
Hitherto  she  has  been  not  the  thinker,  the  formu- 
lator  of  creeds,  but  the  silent  worker.  That  day 
has  passed;  it  remains  for  her  to  take  her  rightful 
position  in  the  active  government  of  the  church, 
and  to  the  question,  if  men  will  accord  that  posi- 
tion to  her,  my  experience  and  that  of  the  chairmen 
of  the  woman's*  committees  warrants  us  in  answer- 
ing an  emphatic  yes.  Her  future  in  the  western 
churches  is  in  her  own  hands,  and  the  men  of  the 
eastern  churches  will  be  emboldened  by  the 
example  of  the  western  to  return  to  their  country 
and  bid  our  sisters  of  those  distant  lands  to  go  and 
do  likewise.  Woman  has  taken  very  literally 
Christ's  command  to  feed  the  hungry,  clothe  the 
naked,  heal  the  sick,  and  to  minister  unto  those 
who  are  in  need  of  such  ministrations;  as  her 
influence  and  power  increase,  so  also  will  her  zeal 
for  good  works.  That  the  experiment  of  an  equal 
presentation  of  men  and  women  in  a  parliament  of 


288  world's  religious  congresses. 

religions  has  not  been  a  failure  I  think  can  be 
proved  by  the  part  taken  by  the  women  who  have 
had  the  honor  of  being  called  to  participate  in  this 
great  gathering.  I  must  now  bear  witness  to  the 
devotion,  the  unselfishness,  and  the  zeal  of  the 
chairman  of  every  committee  who  has  assisted  in 
arranging  these  programmes.  I  would  that  I  had 
the  time  to  name  them  one  by  one.  Their  generous 
cooperation  and  unselfish  endeavor  are  of  those 
good  things  the  memory  of  which  is  in  this  life  a 
foreshadowing  of  how  divine  is  the  principle  of 
loyal  cooperation  in  working  for  righteousness." 

These  generous  words,  in  which  she  pays  tribute 
to  her  earnest,  modest,  and  as  a  rule  notably 
prudent  and  intelligent  co-workers,  set  the  text 
upon  which  every  man  intimately  associated  in  the 
preparations  for  the  congresses,  and  in  their  con- 
duct, would  like  to  enlarge.  Regretting  that  the 
limits  of  this  review  will  not  permit  detailed 
notice  of  the  manifold  ways  in  which  the  women  of 
the  several  committees  contributed  to  their  success, 
I  wish  to  record  the  conviction,  founded  in  observa- 
tion and  experience,  that  without  the  self-sacrific- 
ing and  wise  work  of  these  women,  continued  from 
the  beginning  throughout  the  organization,  neither 
the  parliament  nor  the  denominational  congresses 
could  have  been  carried  out  with  such  breadth, 
and  in  such  a  spirit  of  charity  and  cooperation,  as 
was  achieved,  and  which  constitutes  their  chief 
value. 


-^^^ 


B.  B.  InAGARKAR, 

Brahmo-Somaj,  Bombay,  India. 


CHAPTER  V. 

THE  DENOMIIN^ATIONAL   CONGRESSES. 

THE  Parliament  of  Religions  was  but  a  part  of 
the  series  of  religious  congresses,  and  though 
it  was  in  itself  an  event  so  notable  and  of 
such  x^opular  interest  as  to  overshadow  the  others 
at  the  time,  it  will  be  found  when  the  contributions 
to  the  several  denominational  congresses  are  pub- 
lished that  the  highest  and  most  valuable  worJi  of 
Christian  thinkers  was  put  into  the  preparation  for 
them.  Over  thirty  congresses  of  different  denomi- 
nations and  religious  societies  were  held  concur- 
rently with  and  in  the  weeks  preceding  and 
following  the  j^arliament,  each  one  of  which  was  of 
sufficient  dignity  and  importance  to  have  attracted 
international  attention  at  any  other  time.  There 
was  among  the  committees  some  disappointment 
that  the  programmes,  so  carefully  matured,  and 
commanding  the  best  thought  of  representative  men 
and  women  in  preparation,  should  have  been  so 
completely  overshadowed;  but  upon  second  thought 
it  has  aiDpeared  to  most  of  those  interested  that  the 
great  success  of  that  event,  as  a  signal  demonstra- 
tion of  both  the  need  and  the  possibility  of  frater- 
nal frankness  and  comparison,  will  give  to  the 
proceedings  of  tlie  special  congresses,  when  pub- 
lished, an  importance  and  value  entirely  worthy  of 

19  (289) 


290  world's  religious  cotstgresses. 

the  labor  spent  upon  them.  Without  any  attempt 
to  represent  the  matter  of  over  thirty  elaborately 
prepared  programmes,  we  can  only  here  glance  at 
a  few  characteristic  features  of  them. 

The  Jewish  Congress,  beginning  August  27th, 
showed  how  completely  modern  Judaism  is  organ- 
izing for  the  ethical  education  of  its  people,  and 
displayed  more  zeal  of  propagandism  than  it  has 
been  usually  credited  with.  Subjects  ranging  from 
the  fundamental  doctrines  of  Judaism  through 
ethics  and  the  influence  of  Judaism  upon  civiliza- 
tion down  to  the  organization  and  methods  of  char- 
itable relief  were  treated,  presenting  the  whole 
scope  of  Jewish  thought,  organization,  and  work; 
and  to  this  was  added  the  congress  of  Jewish 
women,  treating  of  women,  home,  charity,  and  mis- 
sion work  among  the  uneducated  —  a  thoroughly 
practical  series  of  papers,  of  value  mainly  to  their 
own  people  as  imparting  to  them  the  inspiration  of 
history,  and  k  larger  conception  of  educational, 
ethical,  and  charitable  work. 

The  Columbian  Catholic  Congress,  which  was 
held  the  week  preceding  the  parliament,  presented 
a  programme  notable  for  the  attention  given  to  the 
relation  of  the  church  to  government  and  social 
questions.  Assured  of  its  position,  only  eager  to 
define  the  harmony  of  its  spiritual  interests  with  the 
civil  order  and  institutions  among  which  it  works, 
it  addressed  itself  largely  to  the  "  social  question" 
in  its  various  phases,  the  rights  of  labor,  the  duties 
of  capital,  poverty,  public  and  private  charities, 
labor  unions,  strikes  and  arbitration,  women  and 


THE  DENOMINATIONAL   CONGRESSES.  291 

their  work,  and  education.  Both  the  papers,  and 
the  discussions  in  the  sections  to  which  they  were 
assigned,  showed  the  completeness  and  elasticity  of 
the  orgmization,  which  has  been  bnilt  up  to  cover 
all  ranges  of  life,  and  carry  help  to  the  lowest  in 
the  name  of  religion. 

The  Congregational,  Methodist,  Lutheran,  and 
other  evangelical  Protestant  bodies  ran  much  to  the 
history  of  the  denomination,  less  to  the  origin  and 
development  of  doctrine;  giving  full  attention  to 
missionary  motive  and  machinery,  and,  where  the 
women  took  a  distinctive  part,  to  education,  the 
home,  mi;?sionary  appeal  to  the  erring,  and  help  to 
the  helpless. 

Universalism  argued  the  goodness  of  God,  the 
essential  holiness  of  man,  the  destructibility  of  sin, 
the  self-perpetuating  power  of  goodness,  with  par- 
donable rejoicing  at  the  "Renaissance  of  Universal- 
ism" in  the  various  sects  of  Christendom.  Uni- 
tarianism  presented  its  theological  method,  its 
place  in  the  development  of  Christianity,  its  influ- 
ence in  literature,  philanthropy,  and  in  the  growth 
of  democracy,  its  history,  doctrines,  and  organized 
working  forces.  Even  the  Congress  of  Evolutionists 
gave  much  time  to  ethics  and  religion,  setting  forth 
the  bearing  of  the  doctrine  of  evolution  upon  belief 
in  immortality  and  the  development  of  Christianity. 

In  the  New  Jerusalem  Church  Congress  an  elab- 
orate series  of  papers  set  forth  the  Swedenborgian 
doctrine  on  the  unity  of  God' s  ways  to  man  in  the 
successive  dispensations  or  churches,  on  the  history 
of  revelation  and  the  opening  of  the  spiritual  sense 


292  world's  religious  congresses. 

of  the  sacred  Scriptures,  revealing  the  one  Lord,  and 
one  church  with  its  successive  ages,  and  the  doc- 
trines which  constitute  the  basis  of  a  universal  faith 
and  charity.  In  another  series  the  mission  of  its 
doctrines  to  the  Gentiles,  to  the  Christian  denomina- 
tions, to  biblical  criticism,  to  science,  to  philosophy, 
to  the  historian,  to  literature  and  art,  to  sociology 
and  government,  and  in  education.  In  still  another 
series  the  relation  of  woman's  work  to  man's,  in 
the  church,  the  home,  and  the  religious  world. 

Congresses  were  held  by  the  Young  Men's  and 
Young  Women's  Christian  associations,  by  the 
Evangelical  Alliance,  and  a  world's  congress  of 
missions,  covering  the  needs,  problems,  and  pro- 
visions for  city,  home,  and  foreign  evangelization  — 
all  serious,  generous  in  plan,  and  striking  in  the 
ability  of  the  contributions  offered  to  the  advance- 
ment of  the  causes  represented.  Indeed,  the  only 
criticism  to  be  offered  is  upon  the  appalling 
breadth  of  subject,  amount  of  detail,  and  w^ealth  of 
thought  brought  under  review.  This  difficulty  can 
only  be  overcome  when  the  several  committees  pub- 
lish their  papers  for  the  use  of  those  whose  interest 
and  fitness  lead  them  into  one  or  another  of  these 
interesting  fields  of  inquiry.  But  if  the  complete 
library  stood  before  us,  no  single  mind  could  fully 
appreciate  the  amount  and  w^orth  of  original,  honest, 
and  painstaking  thought  in  this  Columbian  exhibit 
of  the  mind  and  work  of  the  world  in  morals  and 
religion. 


CHAPTER  yi.      ' 

FAREWELL   MEETINGS  IN   COLUMBUS   AND   WASHING- 
TON HALLS. 

THE  closing  scene  of  the  Parliament  of  Relig- 
ions fulfilled  the  promise  of  its  opening,  and 
will  live  forever  in  the  memory  of  those  who 
were  fortunate  enougli  to  participate  in  it  or  to  wit- 
ness it.  If  the  8,000  people  who  assembled  to  hear 
the  words  of  farewell  could  have  been  gathered  into 
one  great  assembly,  with  suitable  surroundings,  the 
imi^ression  would  have  been  intensified.  That  this 
immense  body  of  people  could  be  separated  into 
two  audiences,  uncomfortably  seated  in  bare  and 
uninviting  halls,  to  listen  half  of  them  to  speeches 
already  once  delivered  to  the  other  half,  without 
any  diminution  of  enthusiasm,  witnesses  the  great- 
ness of  the  occasion. 

It  was  early  apparent  that  Columbus  Hall  would 
not  accommodate  half  the  people  who  desired  to 
attend  the  closing  exercises,  and  tickets  were  accord- 
ingly issued  for  an  overflow  meeting  in  Washington 
Hall,  which  the  writer  of  this  review  and  the  Rev. 
Jenkins  L.  Jones  were  asked  to  conduct.  Both 
halls  were  filled  to  their  utmost  capacity.  In  the 
president's  reception-room  were  assembled  the  rep- 
resentatives of  the  oriental  religions  and  the  creeds 
of  Christendom,  Buddhist  and  Baptist,  Mohamme- 

(293) 


294  woeld's  eeligious  congeesses. 

dan  and  Methodist,  Catholic  and  Confucian,  Mono- 
theist,  Polytheist,  and  Pantheist,  Episcopalian, 
Evangelical,  and  Evolutionist,  Orthodox  and  Heter- 
odox, the  New  Disi3ensation  in  India,  and  the  IN'ew 
Dispensation  in  Christendom  —  all  forms  and  colors 
of  faith,  and  varied  cut  and  color  of  vestment,  min- 
gling together  in  happy  fellowship.  It  was  manifest 
that  the  interest  expectant  in  both  the  halls  was 
only  to  be  satisfied  by  both  seeing  and  hearing;  and 
we  who  were  to  be  responsible  for  the  overflow 
meeting  confronted  a  problem  of  no  small  difficulty. 

It  was  arranged  that  the  procession  of  guests  and 
speakers  shoifld  form  and  march  first  to  the  plat- 
form of  Washington  Hall,  there  to  group  and  stand 
while  introduced  by  Doctor  Barrows,  with  the  prom- 
ise that  when  each  had  sx)oken  in  Columbus  Hall 
he  should  be  escorted  to  that  jjlatform  and  repeat 
his  words  to  that  audience.  And  it  was  agreed 
between  Mr.  Jones  and  myself  that  we  would  alter- 
nately escort  the  speakers  in  the  order  of  their  pres- 
entation to  the  other  audience,  and  introduce  them 
to  the  assembly  in  Washington  Hall.  This  pro- 
gramme was  fully  carried  out,  with  the  hax)piest 
results. 

As  the  company  of  guests  arranged  themselves 
on  the  platform  of  Columbus  Hall  the  Ajjollo  Club, 
under  the  leadership  of  Professor  Tomlins,  opened 
with  "Lift  up  your  heads,  O  ye  gates!"  Then  at 
the  invitation  of  President  Bonney  the  assembly 
stood  in  silent  prayer.  After  which  Cardinal  New- 
man's hymn,  "Lead,  KiMly  Light!"  was  sung  by 
the  chorus. 


FAREWELL  MEETINGS.  295 

''The  demands  of  the  occasion,"  said  President 
Bonney,  "require  the  utmost  possible  economy  of 
our  time.  We  shall  endeavor  to  present  during  the 
evening  a  large  number  of  brief  speeches  rather 
than  a  few  long  ones.  Doctor  Barrows  will  now  pre- 
sent some  of  the  distinguished  guests  wdiom  we 
have  entertained  during  the  past  three  weeks,  and 
who  have  taken  such  an  active  part  in  the  World's 
Parliament  of  Religions." 

Meanwhile  in  Washington  Hall  the  audience  was 
entertained  by  a  brief  catholic  and  inspiring 
paper  on  the  ' '  Future  of  Religion ' '  by  Merwin 
Marie  Snell,  who  had  rendered  valuable  service  in 
the  conduct  of  the  scientific  section  during  the  ses- 
sions of  the  parliament.-  At  the  close  of  his 
address,  and  while  Doctor  Momerie  was  speaking  in 
the  Hall  of  Columbus,  it  fell  to  my  lot  to  say  the 
few  words  I  had  been  appointed  to  say.  The 
audience  was  put  into  the  best  of  spirits  by  the 
evident  purpose  to  compensate  them  for  the  dis- 
appointment in  being  barred  from  the  first  table,  as 
it  were,  and  received  with  evident  approval  the 
suggestion  that  the  results  of  this  parliament 
would  be  not  less  religion  but  more,  not  vagueness 
as  to  origins  but  greater  definiteness  of  faith. 

"  One  of  the  lessons  of  the  parliament  is  that  not 
doctrine  alone  but  life  according  to  doctrine  con- 
stitutes and  qualifies  religion.  Wherever  there  is 
any  religion  there  are  two  parties  to  constitute  it, 
God  and  man;  for  there  must  be  conjunction 
between  them.  And  there  are  two  means  to  this 
conjunction:   the  life  of  divine  love  which  flows  in 


296  world's  religious  congresses. 

inwardly  with  all  men,  and  the  truths  of  faith 
which  are  provided  in  some  form,  in  more  or  less 
fullness,  with  every  nation  that  has  a  religion.  So 
far  as  any  one  in  any  religion  yields  his  heart  to 
live  according  to  the  truths  of  faith  taught  in  his 
religion,  the  Lord,  the  true  and  only  God,  conjoins 
the  good  of  life.  And  as  good  and  truth,  faith  and 
life  are  united  in  man,  he  comes  into  harmony 
with  the  stream  of  God's  providence,  and  is  capable 
of  enlightenment  and  development  of  life  under 
favoring  conditions  in  this  world  and  the  next. 

"Every  religion  teaches  that  there  is  a  God,  and 
that  evils  are  to  be  shunned  as  sins  against  him; 
and  in  almost  every  religion  there  is  witness  in 
some  form  to  the  life  after  death,  with  its  condi- 
tions that  flow  from  the  life  here,  as  lived  in 
acknowledgment  of  God  and  obedience  to  his  pre- 
cepts. The  vitality  of  religion  everywhere  is  in  the 
fidelity  of  life  to  belief.  And  the  supreme  good  of 
this  parliament  is  the  emphasis  it  has  given  to  that 
one  truth.  The  fatherhood  of  God  and  the  brother- 
hood of  man  without  that  truth  would  mean  noth- 
ing, for  brotherhood  in  religion  flows  from  that 
common  fountain,  fidelity  to  what  one  believes 
from  God.  .  That  is  my  best,  and  that  in  every  other 
man  is  brother  to  that  best  in  me.  It  is  this  recog- 
nition which  exalts  the  importance  of  the  scriptures 
and  traditions  in  which  the  non-Christian  religions 
are  founded,  and  constitutes  the  appeal  of  the 
Christian  Scriptures  to  them,  as  lighting  up  their 
own  origins,  and  giving  expansion  and  validity  to 
their  conception  of  God  and  righteousness.    He  is 


FAREWELL   MEETINGS.  297 

in  the  way  of  eternal  life  who  lives  wp  to  his  belief 
in  God  and  his  law ;  not  by  this  or  that  doctrine,  but 
by  '  what  is  written  in  the  law?  How  readest  thou? 
This  do  and  thou  shalt  live.'  The  emphasis  and 
illustration  which  has  been  given  to  this  funda- 
mental truth  in  the  Parliament  of  Religions  can  not 
but  issue  in  permanent  and  happy  results"  And 
as  Doctor  Momerie  entered  at  this  point,  reminding 
me  of  Frederick  Robertson  of  Brighton,  I  could  call 
him  to  witness  to  that  great  preaclier's  prophecy  of 
the  recognition  sometime  of  the  importance  of  this 
truth  —  not  that  it  makes  no  diflPerence  what  we 
believe,  but,  as  Robertson  said,  "Obedience  is  the 
organ  of  spiritual  enlightenment." 

Doctor  Momerie  was  introduced  by  the  Rev.  Mr. 
Jones,  w^ith  happy  reference  to  our  satisfaction  in 
his  visit  and  contribution  to  the  work  of  the  con- 
gress, almost  leading  us  to  forget  the  disappoint- 
ment at  the  unfortunate  failure  of  the  Anglican 
church  to  be  officially  represented. 

Doctor  Momerie  responded  that  he  wished  to  say 
three  things.  "First  of  all,  I  want  to  tender  my 
warmest  congratulations  to  Doctor  Barrows.  I  do 
not  believe  there  is  another  man  living  who  could 
have  carried  this  congress  through  and  made  it  such 
a  gigantic  success.  It  needed  a  head,  a  heart,  an 
energy,  a  common  sense,  and  a  pluck  such  as  I  have 
never  known  to  be  united  before  in  a  single  indi- 
vidual. 

"  Secondly,  I  should  like  to  offer  my  congratula- 
tions to  the  American  people.  This  Parliament  of 
Religions  has  been  held  in  the  New  World.   I  confess 


298  world's  religious  COTs^GRESSES. 

I  wish  it  liad  been  held  in  the  Old  World,  in  my  own 
country,  and  that  it  had  had  its  origin  in  my  own 
church.  It  is  the  greatest  event  so  far  in  the  history 
of  the  world,  and  it  ha's  been  held  on  American  soil. 
I  congratulate  the  people  of  America.  Their  exam- 
ple will  be  followed  in  time  to  come  in  other  coun- 
tries and  by  other  peoples,  but  there  is  one  honor 
which  will  always  be  Amei^ica's  —  the  honor  of  hav- 
ing led  the  way.  And  certainly  I  should  like  to  offer 
my  congratulations  to  you,  the  citizens  of  Chicago. 
While  our  minds  are  full  of  the  parliament  I  can 
not  forget  the  Fair.  I  have  seen  all  the  expositions 
of  Europe  during  the  last  ten  or  twelve  years,  and  I 
am  sure  I  do  not  exaggerate  when  I  say  that  your 
exposition  is  greater  than  all  the  rest  put  together. 
But  your  Parliament  of  Religions  is  far  greater  than 
your  exposition.  There  have  been  plenty  of  expo- 
sitions before.  Yours  is  the  best,  but  it  is  a  compar- 
atively common  thing.  The  Parliament  of  Religions 
is  a  new  thing  in  the  world.  Most  people,  even 
those  who  regarded  the  idea  with  pleasure,  thought 
that  it  was  an  impossibility;  but  it  has  been 
achieved.  Here  in  this  Hall  of  Columbus  vast 
audiences  have  assembled  day  after  day,  the  mem- 
bers of  which  came  from  all  churches  and  from  all 
sects,  and  sometimes  from  no  church  at  all.  Here 
they  sat  side  by  side  during  the  long  hours  of  the 
day,  listening  to  doctrines  which  they  had  been 
taught  to  regard  with  contempt;  listening  with 
respect,  with  sympathy,  with  an  earnest  desire  to 
learn  something  which  would  improve  their  own 
doctrines."     And  with  a  reference  to  the  harmony 


FAREWELL   MEETINGS.  299 

among  tbe  representatives  of  churches  and  sects 
which  once  hated  and  cursed  one  another,  he  closed 
with  congratulation  and  benediction  for  Chicago. 

Returning  from  Columbus  Hall  with  Mr.  Mozoom- 
dar,  where  his  speech  had  been  received  with  the 
enthusiasm  he  never  fails  to  arouse,  it  was  evident 
that  the  second  audience  was  not  likely  to  prove  a 
burden  to  the  speakers.  There  was  such  a  good- 
humored  cordiality  and  informal  sphere  pervading 
Washington  Hall  that  the  speakers  seemed  to  feel 
a  certain  lightness  of  spirit  and  freedom  of  address 
which  made  the  repetition  of  the  speech  just 
delivered  to  the  other  audience  a  gracious  pleasure. 
In  presenting  Mr.  Mozoomdar,  I  could  not  but  refer 
again  to  the  phrase  descriptive  of  the  mission 
Brahmo-Somaj,  namely,  "The  New  Dispensation  in 
India,"  to  which  his  quotation  from  their  great 
leader,  Chunder  Senn,  in  the  address  which  follows, 
gives  peculiar  significance.     He  said: 

' '  This  Parliament  of  Eeligions,  this  concourse  of 
spirits,  is  to  break  up  before  to-morrow's  sun. 
What  lessons  have  we  learned  from  our  incessant 
labors  ?  Firstly,  the  charge  of  materialism,  laid 
against  the  age  in  general,  and  against  America  in 
particular,  is  refuted  forever.  Could  these  myriads 
have  spent  their  time,  their  energy,  neglected 
their  business,  their  pleasures,  to  be  present  with 
us  if  their  spirit  had  not  risen  above  their 
material  needs  or  carnal  desires?  The  spirit 
dominates  still  over  matter  and  over  mankind. 
Secondly,  the  unity  of  purpose  and  feeling  un- 
mistakably shown  in  the  harmonious  proceedings 


300 

of  these  seventeen  days  teaclies  that  men  with 
opposite  views,  denominations  with  contradictory 
principles  and  liistories,  can  form  one  congregation, 
one  household,  one  body,  for  however  short  a  time, 
when  animated  by  one  Spirit.  Who  is  or  what  is 
that  Spirit  ?  It  is  the  Spirit  of  God  himself.  This 
unity  of  man  with  man  is  the -unity  of  man  with 
God,  and  the  unity  of  man  with  man  in  God  is  the 
kingdom  of  heaven.  When  I  came  here  by  the  invi- 
tation of  your  President,  I  came  with  the  hope 
of  seeing  the  object  of  my  lifelong  faith  and  labors, 
viz.,  the  harmony  of  religions,  effected.  The  last 
public  utterance  of  my  leader,  Cheshub  Chunder 
Senn,  made  in  1883,  in  his  lecture  called  'Asia's 
Message  to  Europe,'  was  this: 

' ' '  Here  will  meet  the  world' s  representatives,  the 
foremost  spirits,  the  most  living  hearts,  the  leading 
thinkers  and  devotees  of  each  church,  and  offer 
united  homage  to  the  King  of  kings  and  the 
Lord  of  lords.  This  central  union  church  is  no 
Utopian  fancy,  but  a  veritable  reality,  whose  begin- 
ning we  see  already  among  the  nations  of  the  earth. 
Already  the  right  wing  of  each  church  is  pressing 
forward,  and  the  advanced  liberals  are  drawing  near 
each  other  under  the  central  banner  of  the  new  dis- 
pensation. Believe  me,  the  time  is  coming  when  the 
more  liberal  of  the  Catholic  and  Protestant  branches 
of  Christ's  church  will  advance  and  meet  upon  a  com- 
mon platform  and  form  a  broad  Christian  commu- 
nity, in  which  all  sball  be  identified,  in  spite  of  all 
diversities  and  differences  in  non-essential  matters 
of  faith.     So  shall   the  Baptists  and  Methodists, 


FAREWELL    MEETINGS.  301 

Trinitarians  and  Unitarians,  the  Ritualists  and  tlie 
Evangelical,  all  unite  in  a  broad  and  universal  cliurcli 
organization,  loving,  honoring,  serving  the  common 
body  while  retaining  the  peculiarities  of  each  sect. 
Only  the  broad  of  each  sect  shall  for  the  present 
come  forward,  and  others  shall  follow  in  time. 
The  base  remains  where  it  is;  the  vast  masses  at 
the  foot  of  each  church  will  yet  remain,  perhaps 
for  centuries,  where  they  now  are.  But  as  you  look 
to  the  lofty  heights  above  you  will  see  all  the  bolder 
spirits  and  broad  souls  of  each"  church  pressing 
forward,  onward,  heavenward.  Come,  then,  my 
friends,  ye  broad -hearted  of  all  the  churches,  ad- 
vance and  shake  hands  with  each  other  and  promote 
that  spiritual  fellowship,  that  kingdom  of  heaven 
which  Christ  predicted.' 

"These  words  were  said  in  1883,  and  in  1893  every 
letter  of  the  prophecy  has  been  fulfilled.  The  king- 
dom of  heaven  is  to  my  mind  a  vast  concentric  cir- 
cle with  various  circumferences  of  doctrine,  author- 
ities, and  organizations  from  outer  to  inner,  from 
inner  to  inner  still,  until  heaven  and  earth  become 
one.  The  outermost  circle  is  belief  in  God  and  the 
love  of  man.  In  the  tolerance,  kindliness,  good- 
will, patience,  and  wisdom  which  have  distinguished 
the  work  of  this  parliament  that  outermost  circle  of 
the  kingdom  of  heaven  has  been  described.  We 
have  influenced  vast  numbers  of  men  and  women  of 
all  opinions  and  the  influence  will  spread  and  spread. 
So  many  human  unities  drawn  within  the  magnetic 
circle  of  spiritual  sympathy  can  not  but  influence 
and  widen  the  various  denominations  to  which  they 


302  world's  religious  congresses. 

belong.  In  the  course  of  time  those  inner  circles 
must  widen  also  till  the  love  of  man  and  the  love  of 
God  are  perfected  in  one  church,  one  God,  one  sal- 
vation. I  conclude  with  acknowledging  the  singular 
cordiality  and  appreciation  extended  to  us  orientals. 
Where  every  one  has  done  so  well  we  did  not 
deserve  special  honor,  but  undeserved  as  the  honor 
may  be,  it  shows  the  greatness  of  jouy  leaders,  and 
especially  of  your  chairman.  Doctor  Barrows. 
Doctor  Barrows,  humanly  speaking,  has  been  the 
soul  of  this  noble  movement.  The  profoundest 
blessings  of  the  jiresent  and  future  generations  shall 
follow  him.  And  now  farewell.  For  once  in  his- 
tory all  religions  have  made  their  peace,  all  nations 
have  called  each  other  brothers,  and  their  repre- 
sentatives have  for  seventeen  days  stood  up  morning 
after  morning  to  pray  Our  Father,  the  universal 
father  of  all,  in  heaven.  His  will  has  been  done  so 
far,  and  in  the  great  coming  future  may  that  blessed 
will  be  done  further  and  further,  forever  and  ever." 

Without  further  attempt  to  describe  two  meetings, 
we  may  go  on  in  the  order  of  the  second,  with  which 
the  writer  is  most  familiar.  Prince  Serge  Wolkon- 
sky,  who  endeared  himself  to  everybody  by  his 
enthusiasm  for  humanity,  was  next  felicitously 
introduced  by  Rev.  Mr.  Jones,  and  responded  in 
the  following  characteristic  speech: 

''  I  hardly  realize  that  it  is  for  the  last  time  in  my 
life  I  have  the  honor,  the  pleasure,  the  fortune  to 
speak  to  you.  On  this  occasion  I  would  like  to  tell 
you  so  many  things  that  I  am  afraid  that  if  I  give 


Fx^EEWELL   MEETINGS.  303 

free  course  to  my  sentiments  I  will  feel  the  delicate 
but  imperative  touch  of  Mr.  President's  hand  on  my 
shoulder  long  before  I  reach  the  end  of  my  speech. 
Therefore,  I  will  say  thanks  to  all  of  yoa  ladies  and 
gentlemen  in  the  shortest  possible  words  —  thanks 
for  your  kind  attention,  for  your  kind  applause, 
your  kind  laughter,  for  your  hearty  hand-shakes. 
You  will  believe  how  deeply  I  am  obliged  to  you 
when  I  tell  you  that  this  was  the  first  time  in  my 
life  that  I  ever  took  an  active  part  in  a  congress, 
and  I  wish  any  enterprise  I  might  undertake  later 
on  might  leave  me  such  happy  remembrances  as 
this  first  experience. 

"Before  bidding  you  farewell,  I  want  to  express  a 
wish;  may  the  good  feelings  you  have  shown  me  so 
many  times,  may  they,  through  my  unworthy  per- 
sonality, spread  to  the  people  of  my  country,  whom 
you  know  so  little  and  whom  I  love  so  much.  If  I 
ask  you  that,  it  is  because  I  know  the  prejudices 
which  prevail  among  the  people  of  your  country. 
A  compatriot  said  the  other  day  that  Russians 
thought  all  Americans  were  angels,  and  that  Ameri- 
cans thought  all  Russians  were  brutes.  Now  once 
in  awhile  these  angels  and  these  brutes  come 
together,  and  both  are  deceived  in  their  expectations. 
You  see  that  you  certainly  are  not  angels,  and  you 
see  we  are  not  qaite  as  much  brute  as  you  thought 
we  were.  Now  why  this  disappointment?  Why  this 
surprise?  Why  this  astonishment?  Because  we 
won't  remember  that  we  are  men,  and  nothing  else 
and  nothing  more.  We  can  not  be  anything  more, 
for  to  be  a  man  is  the  highest  thing  we  can  pretend 


304  world's  eeligious  congeesses. 

to  be  on  this  earth.  I  do  not  know  whether  many 
have  learned  in  the  sessions  of  this  parliament  what 
respect  of  God  is,  but  I  know  that  no  one  will  leave 
the  congress  without  having  learned  what  respect  of 
man  is.  And  should  the  Parliament  of  Religions  of 
1893  have  no  other  result  but  this,  it  is  enough  to 
make  the  names  of  Doctor  Barrows  and  those  who 
have  helped  him  imperishable  in  the  history  of 
humanity. 

"  Should  this  congress  have  no  other  result  than 
to  teach  us  to  judge  our  fellow-man  by  his  individ- 
ual value,  and  not  by  the  political  opinion  he  may 
have  of  his  country,  I  will  express  my  gratitude  to 
the  congress,  not  only  in  the  name  of  those  your 
brothers  who  are  my  countrymen,  but  in  the  name 
of  those  our  brothers  whom  we  so  often  revile 
because  the  political  traditions  of  their  country 
refuse  the  recognition  of  home  rule;  in  the  name 
of  those  our  fellow-men  whose  mother-land  stands 
on  the  neck  of  India,  in  the  name  of  those  our 
brothers  whom  we  so  often  blame  only  because  the 
governments  of  their  countries  send  rajjacious 
armies  on  the  western,  southern,  and  eastern  coasts 
of  Africa;  I  will  exi)ress  my  gratitude  to  the  con- 
gress in  the  name  of  those  my  brothers  w^hom  we 
often  judge  so  wrongly  because  of  the  cruel  treat- 
ment their  government  inflicts  upon  the  Chinese.  I 
will  congratulate  the  congress  in  the  name  of  the 
w^hole  world  if  those  who  have  been  here  have 
learned  that  as  long  as  politics  and  politicians  exist 
there  is  no  happiness  possible  on  earth.  I  will  con- 
gratulate the  congress  in  the  name  of  the  whole 


FAEEWELL   MEETINGS.  305 

humanity  if  those  who  have  attended  its  sessions  have 
realized  that  it  is  a  crime  to  be  astonished  when  we 
see  that  another  human  being  is  a  man  like  our- 
selves." And  in  concluding  he  paid  a  tribute  of 
respect  and  praise  to  Mr.  Bonney  for  his  unfailing 
courtesy  and  charity. 

Mr.  Hirai  of  Japan,  who  was  one  of  the  first  to 
tell  Christians  some  things  they  ought  to  know 
about  the  wrongs  of  so-called  Christian  civilization, 
had  only  words  of  good- will  in  farewell. 

"We  can  not  but  admire  the  tolerant  forbear- 
ance and  compassion  of  the  people  of  the  civilized 
west.  You  are  the  pioneers  in  human  history. 
You  have  achieved  an  assembly  of  the  world's 
religions,  and  we  believe  your  next  step  will  be 
toward  the  ideal  goal  of  this  j)arliament,  the  realiza- 
tion of  international  justice.  We  ourselves  desire 
to  witness  its  fulfillment  in  our  lifetime  and  to  greet 
you  again  with  our  deepest  admiration.  By  your 
kind  hospitality  we  have  forgotten  that  we  are 
strangers,  and  we  are  very  much  attached  to  this 
city.  To  leave  here  makes  us  feel  as  if  we  were 
leaving  our  native  country.  To  part  with  you 
makes  us  feel  as  if  we  were  parting  from  our  own 
sisters  and  brothers.  When  we  think  of  our  home- 
ward journey  we  can  not  help  shedding  tears. 
Farewell.  The  cold  winter  is  coming,  and  we 
earnestly  wish  that  you  may  be  in  good  health. 
Farewell." 


The  kindly  and  gentle  appeal  in  the  speech  of  the 

20 


306  woeld's  religious  congresses. 

Chinese  ambassador  Pung  Quang  Yu  is  also  some- 
thing of  a  reproach  to  Christian  America.  After 
formal  thanks,  he  said: 

"  It  is  unnecessary  for  me  to  touch  upon  the  exist- 
ing relations  between  the  government  of  China  and 
that  of  the  United  States.  There  is  no  doubt  that 
the  Chinese  minister  at  Washington  and  the  honor- 
able Secretary  of  State  are  well  able  to  deal  with 
every  question  rising  between  the  two  countries  in  a 
manner  satisfactory  and  honorable  to  both.  As  I 
am  a  delegate  to  the  religious  congresses,  I  can  not 
but  feel  that  all  religious  people  are  my  friends.  I 
have  a  favor  to  ask  of  all  the  religious  people  of 
America,  and  that  is  that  they  will  treat,  hereafter, 
all  my  countrymen  just  as  they  have  treated  me.  I 
shall  be  a  hundred  times  more  grateful  to  them  for 
the  kind  treatment  of  my  countrymen  than  of 
myself.  I  am  sure  that  the  Americans  in  China 
receive  just  such  considerate  treatment  from  the 
cultured  people  of  China  as  I  have  received  from 
you.  The  majority  of  my  countrymen  in  this  coun- 
try are  honest  and  law^-abiding.  Christ  teaches  us 
that  it  is  not  enough  to  love  one' s  brethren  only.  I 
am  sure  that  all  religious  people  will  not  think  this 
request  too  extravagant.  It  is  my  sincere  hope 
that  no  national  differences  will  ever  interrupt  the 
friendly  relations  between  the  two  governments  and 
that  the  two  peoples  will  equally  enjoy  the  protec- 
tion and  blessings  of  heaven.  I  intend  to  leave  this 
country  shortly.  I  shall  take  great  pleasure  in 
reporting  to  my  government  the  proceedings  of  this 
parliament  upon  my  return.  With  this  I  desire  to 
bid  all  my  friends  farewell." 


FAREWELL   MEETINGS.  307 

The  high  priest  of  the  Shinto  sect,  of  Japan,  while 
invoking  eight  million  deities,  expressed  the  spirit 
of  brotherhood  which  carries  with  it  the  acknowl- 
edgment of  a  supreme  Father. 
.  ' '  I  am  here  in  the  pulpit  again  to  express  my  thanks 
for  the  kindness,  hearty  welcome,  and  applause  I 
.have  been  enjoying  at  your  hands  ever  siuce  I  came 
here  to  Chicago.  You  have  shown  great  sympathy 
with  my  humble  opinion,  and  your  newsj)ax)er  men 
have  talked  of  me  in  high  terms.  I  am  happy  that 
I  have  had  the  honor  of  listening  to  so  many  famous 
scholars  and  preaching  the  same  opinion  of  the 
necessity  of  universal  brotherhood  and  humanity. 
I  am  deeply  impressed  with  the  peace,  politeness, 
and  education  which  characterize  your  audiences. 
But  is  it  not  too  sad  that  such  pleasures  are  always 
short-lived  ?  I,  who  made  acquaintance  with  you 
only  yesterday,  have  to  part  with  you  to-day, 
though  reluctantly.  This  Parliament  of  Religions  is 
the  most  remarkable  event  in  history,  and  it  is  the 
first  honor  in  my  life  to  have  the  privilege  of  appear- 
ing before  you  to  pour  out  my  humble  idea,  which 
was  so  well  acceioted  by  you  all.  You  like  me,  but 
I  think  it  is  not  the  mortal  Shibata  that  you  like, 
but  you  like  the  immortal  idea  of  universal  broth- 
erhood. What  I  wish  to  do  is  to  assist  you  in  car- 
rying out  the  plan  of  forming  universal  brotherhood 
under  the  one  roof  of  truth.  You  know  unity  is 
power.  I,  who  can  sj^eakno  language  but  Japanese, 
may  help  you  in  crowning  that  grand  project  with 
success.  To  come  here  I  had  many  obstacles  to 
overcome,  many  struggles  to  make.     You  must  not 


308  world's  religious  congresses. 

think  I  represent  all  Shintoism.  I  only  represent  my 
own  Shinto  sect.  But  who  dares  to  destroy  univer- 
sal fraternity?  So  long  as  the  sun  and  moon  con- 
tinue to  shine  all  friends  of  truth  must  be  willing 
to  fight  courageously  for  this  great  principle.  I  do 
not  know  as  I  shall  ever  see  you  again  in  this  life, 
but  our  souls  have  been  so  pleasantly  united  here 
that  I  hope  they  may  be  again  united  in  the  life 
hereafter.  Now  I  pray  that  8,000,000  deities  pro- 
tecting the  beautiful  cherry-tree  country  of  Japan 
may  protect  you  and  your  government  forever,  and 
with  this  I  bid  you  good-by." 

The  Rev.  Dr.  George  T.  Candlin,  who  is  a  Chris- 
tian missionary  to  China,  who  showed  his  faith  on 
several  occasions  that  God  has  not  left  himself  with- 
out a  witness  in  any  nation,  and  that  the  mission  of 
Christianity  is  to  educate  rather  than  subdue,  said: 

"It  is  with  deepest  joy  that  I  take  my  part  in 
the  congratulations  of  this  closing  day.  The  par- 
liament has  more  than  justified  my  most  sanguine 
expectations.  As  a  missionary  I  anticipate  that  it 
will, make  a  new  era  of  missionary  enterprise  and 
missionary  hope.  If  it  does  not  it  will  not  be  your 
fault,  and  let  those  take  the  blame  who  make  it 
otherwise.  Very  sure  I  am  that  at  least  one  mis- 
sionary, who  counts  himself  the  humblest  member 
of  this  noble  assembly,  will  carry  through  every 
day  of  work,  through  every  hour  of  effort  on  till 
the  sun  of  life  sets  on  the  completion  of  his  task, 
the  strengthening  memory  and  uplifting  inspira- 
tion of  this  Pentecost.     By  this  parliament  the  city 


FAREWELL   MEETINGS.  309 

of  Chicago  lias  j)laced  herself  far  away  above  all 
the  cities  of  the  earth.  In  this  school  you  have 
learned  what  no  other  town  or  city  in  the  world  yet 
knows.  The  conventional  idea  of  religion  which 
obtains  among  Christians  the  world  over  is  that 
Christianity  is  true,  all  other  religions  false;  that 
Christianity  is  of  God,  while  other  religions  are  of 
the  devil;  or  else,  with  a  little  spice  of  moderation, 
that  Christianity  is  a  revelation  from  heaven,  while 
other  religions  are  manufactures  of  men.  You 
know  better,  and  with  clear  light  and  strong  assur- 
ance can  testify  that  there  may  be  friendshij) 
instead  of  antagonism  between  religion  and  religion; 
that  so  surely  as  God  is  our  common  Father,  our 
hearts  alike  have  yearned  for  him  and  our  souls  in 
devoutest  moods  have  caught  whispers  of  grace 
dropped  from  his  throne.  Then  this  is  Pentecost, 
and  behind  is  the  conversion  of  the  world." 

There  is  diversity  of  gifts,  and  one  differs  from 
another  in  fitness  and  function  as  well  as  in  glory. 
This  was  sure  to  be  realized  in  introducing  him,  by 
one  who  had  become  really  acquainted  with  the 
loving,  the  lovable,  and  love-inspiring  Dharmapala. 
He  responded: 

"Peace,  blessings,  and  salutations,  brethren. 
This  congress  of  religions  has  achieved  a  stupendous 
work  in  bringing  before  you  the  representatives  of 
the  religions  and  philosophies  of  the  East.  The 
committee  on  religious  congresses  has  realized  the 
Utopian  idea  of  the  poet  and  the  visionary.  By 
the  wonderful  genius  of  two  men  —  Mr.  Bonney 


310  world's  religious  congresses. 

and  Doctor  Barrows  —  a  beacon-light  has  been 
erected  on  the  platform  of  the  Chicago  Parliament 
of  Religions  to  guide  the  yearning  souls  after  truth. 

"I,  on  behalf  of  the  475,000,000  of  my  co  relig- 
ionists, followers  of  the  gentle  Lord  Buddha  Gau- 
tama, tender  my  affectionate  regards  to  you  and  to 
Dr.  John  Henry  Barrows,  a  man  of  noble  tolerance, 
of  sweet  disposition,  whose  equal  I  could  hardly 
find.  And  you,  my  brothers  and  sisters,  born  in 
this  land  of  freedom,  you  have  learned  from  your 
brothers  of  the  far  East  their  presentation  of  the 
respective  religious  systems  they  follow.  You  have 
listened  with  commendable  i)atience  to  the  teach- 
ings of  the  all  merciful  Buddha  through  his  humble 
followers.  During  his  earthly  career  of  forty-five 
years  he  labored  in  emancipating  the  human  mind 
from  religious  prejudices,  and  teaching  a  doctrine 
which  has  made  Asia  mild.  By  the  patient  and 
laborious  researches  of  the  men  of  science  you  are 
given  to  enjoy  the  fruits  of  material  civilization,  but 
this  civilization  by  itself  finds  no  praise  at  the 
hands  of  the  great  naturalists  of  the  day. 

"Learn  to  think  without  prejudice,  love  all 
beings  for  love's  sake,  express  your  convictions 
fearlessly,  lead  a  life  of  purity,  and  the  sunlight  of 
truth  will  illuminate  you.  If  theology  and  dogma 
stand  in  your  way  in  search  of  truth,  put  them 
aside.  Be  earnest  and  work  out  your  own  salvation 
with  diligence,  and  the  fruits  of  holiness  will  be 
yours." 

The  Vedas,  they  say,  have  no  beginning  and  no 


FAREWELL   MEETINGS.  311 

end,  and  that  is  because  their  streams  flow  from  the 
eternal  fountain  of  the  water  of  life.  ' '  Tliere  is  a 
river  the  streams  whereof  make  glad  the  city  of  our 
God, ' '  and  in  every  land  waters  of  instruction  and 
refreshment  are  provided  and  preserved  for  those  who 
are  there,  by  a  providence  Avhich  embraces  them  as 
truly  as  the  most  favored.  Something  of  this  faith, 
uttered  in  the  introduction  of  Swami  Vivekananda, 
was  justified  in  his  own  words. 

"The  World's  Parliament  of  Religions  has  be- 
come an  accomplished  fact,  and  the  merciful  Father 
has  helped  those  who  labored  to  bring  it  into  exist- 
ence and  crowned  with  success  their  most  unselfish, 
labor.  My  thanks  to  those  noble  souls  whose  large 
hearts  and  love  of  truth  first  dreamed  this  wonder- 
ful dream  and  then  realized  it.  My  thanks  to  the 
shower  of  liberal  sentiments  that  has  overflowed  this 
platform.  My  thanks  to  this  enlightened  audience 
for  their  uniform  kindness  to  me  and  for  their 
appreciation  of  every  thought  that  tends  to  smooth 
the  friction  of  religions.  A  few  jarring  notes  were 
heard  from  time  to  time  in  this  harmony.  My 
special  thanks  to  them,  for  they  have  by  their  strik- 
ing contrast  made  the  general  harmony  the  sweeter. 
Much  has  been  said  of  the  common  ground  of 
religious  unity.  I  am  not  going  just  now  to  venture 
my  own  theory;  but  if  any  one  here  hopes  that  this 
unity  would  come  by  the  triumph  of  any  one  of 
these  religions  and  the  destruction  of  the  others, 
to  him  I  say:  'Brother,  yours  is  an  impossible 
hope.'  Do  I  wish  that  the  Christian  would  become 
Hindu?    God  forbid.     Do  I  wish  that  the  Hindu 


312  world's  religious  coj^gresses. 

or  Buddhist  would  become  Christian?  God  forbid. 
The  seed  is  put  in  the  ground,  and  earth,  and  air, 
and  water  are  placed  around  it.  Does  the  seed 
become  the  earth,  or  the  air,  or  the  water?  No.  It 
becomes  a  plant,  it  develops  after  the  law  of  its  own 
growth,  assimilates  the  air,  the  earth,  and  the  Avater, 
converts  them  into  plant  substance  and  grows  a 
plant.  Similar  is  the  case  with  religion.  The 
Christian  is  not  to  become  a  Hindu  or  a  Buddhist, 
nor  a  Hindu  or  a  Buddhist  to  become  a  Christian. 
But  each  must  assimilate  the  others  and  yet  pre- 
serve its  individuality  and  grow  according  to  its  own 
•law  of  growth.  If  the  Parliament  of  Religions  has 
shown  anything  to  the  world  it  is  this:  It  has 
proved  to  the  world  that  lioliness,  purity,  and 
charity  are  not  the  exclusive  possessions  of  any 
church  in  the  world  and  that  every  system  has  pro- 
duced men  and  women  of  the  most  exalted  charac- 
ter. In  the  face  of  this  evidence  if  anybody  dreams 
of  the  exclusive  survival  of  his  own  and  the  destruc- 
tion of  the  others  I  pity  him  from  the  bottom  of  my 
heart,  and  point  out  to  him  that  upon  the  banner  of 
every  religion  would  soon  be  written,  in  spite  of 
their  resistance:  'Help  and  not  fight,'  'Assimila- 
tion and  not  destruction,'  '  Harmony  and  peace  and 
not  dissension.'  " 

A  quiet  lawyer  of  Bombay,  secretary  and  repre- 
sentative of  the  Jain  Association,  a  form  of  religion 
he  declared  older  than  Buddhism,  Mr.  Ghandi,  won 
many  friends,  to  whom  he  said  in  parting: 

"Are   we  not  all   sorry  that  we  are  parting  so 


FAEEWELL   MEETINGS.  313 

soon  ?  Do  we  not  wish  tliat  this  parliament  would 
last  seventeen  times  seventeen  days  ?  Have  we  not 
heard  with  pleasure  and  interest  the  speeches  of  the 
learned  representatives  on  this  platform  ?  Do  we 
not  see  that  the  sublime  dream  of  the  organizers  of 
this  unique  parliament  have  been  more  than  real- 
ized ?  If  you  will  only  permit  a  heathen  to  deliver 
his  message  of  peace  and  love  I  shall  only  ask  you 
to  look  at  the  multifarious  ideas  presented  to  you  in 
a  liberal  spirit,  and  not  with  superstition  and 
bigotry,  as  the  seven  blind  men  did  in  the  elephant 
story.  Once  upon  a  time  in  a  great  city  an  elephant 
was  brought  with  a  circus.  The  people  had  never 
seen  an  elephant  before.  There  were  seven  blind 
men  in  the  city  who  longed  to  know  what  kind  of 
animal  it  was,  so  they  went  together  to  the  place 
where  the  elephant  was  kept.  One  of  them  placed 
his  hands  on  the  ears,  another  on  the  legs,  a  third 
on  the  tail  of  the  elephant,  and  so  on.  When  they 
were  asked  by  the  people  what  kind  of  an  animal  the 
elephant  was,  one  of  the  blind  men  said:  '  Oh,  to 
be  sure,  the  elephant  is  like  a  big  winnowing  fan.' 
Another  blind  man  said:  'No,  my  dear  sir,  you 
are  wrong.  The  elephant  is  more  like  a  big  round 
post.'  The  third:  'You  are  quite  mistaken,  it  is 
like  a  tapering  stick.'  The  rest  of  tliem  gave  also 
their  different  opinions.  The  proprietor  of  the  cir- 
cus stepped  forward  and  said:  '  My  friends,  you  are 
all  mistaken.  You  have  not  examined  the  elephant 
from  all  sides.  Had  you  done  so  you  would  not 
have  taken  one-sided  views.'  Brothers  and  sisters, 
I  entreat  you  to  hear  the  moral  of  this  story,  and 


314  world's  religious  congresses. 

learn  to  examine  the  various  religious  systems  from 
all  standpoints. 

"I  now  thank  you  from  the  bottom  of  my  heart 
for  the  kindness  with  which  you  have  received  us 
and  for  the  liberal  spirit  and  patience  with  which 
you  have  heard  us." 

Prince  Momolu  Massaquoi,  of  the  Vey  Nation, 
West  Africa,  is  a  Christian  convert,  educated  in 
Liberia  and  in  this  country;,  but  his  heart  is  near 
his  people,  and  on  many  occasions  he  testified  to  the 
reality  of  their  religion  and  soundness  of  their  mo- 
rality, both  the  Mohammedans  and  pagans  among 
them.  He  did  not  appear  before  the  parliament  in 
any  formal  address,  though  he  spoke  in  the  subor- 
dinate congresses,  winning  all  witli  his  dignified 
and  simple  bearing  and  unaffected  grace  of  speech. 
Presented  as  a  re23resentative  of  Africa,  he  referred 
to  the  receptive  and  teachable  character  of  the 
African,  to  his  affectionate  disposition  and  suscepti- 
bility to  supernatural  influences  and  guidance,  and 
said: 

' '  Permit  me  to  express  my  hearty  thanks  to  the 
chairman  of  this  congress  for  the  honor  conferred 
upon  me  personally  by  the  privilege  of  rei)resent- 
ing  Africa  in  this  World's  Parliament  of  Religions. 
There  is  an  important  relationship  which  Africa 
sustains  to  this  particular  gathering.  Nearly  1,900 
years  ago,  at  the  great  dawn  of  the  Christian  morn- 
ing, the  world  saw  benighted  Africa  opening  her 
doors  to  the  infant  Saviour  Jesus  Christ,  afterward 
tlie  founder  of  one  of  the  greatest  religions  man  ever 


FAREWELL   MEETINGS.  315 

embraced,  and  the  teacher  of  tbe  highest  and  noblest 
sent  ments  ever  taught,  whose  teaching  has  resulted 
in  the  presence  of  this  magnificent  audience.  As  I 
sat  in  this  audience  listening  to  the  distinguished 
delegates  and  representatives  in  this  assembly  of 
learning,  of  philosophy,  of  systems  of  religions,  I 
said  to  myself  :   '  What  shall  the  harvest  be  ? ' 

^'The  very  atmosphere  seems  pregnant  with  an 
indefinable,  inexpressible  something  —  something 
too  solemn  for  human  utterance  —  something  I  dare 
not  exx)ress.  Previous  to  this  gathering  the  greatest 
enmity  existed  among  the  world's  religions.  To- 
night—  I  dare  not  speak  as  one  seeing  visions  or 
dreaming  dreams — but  this  night  it  seems  that  the 
world's  religions,  instead  of  striking  one  against 
arfother,  have  come  together  in  amicable  delibera- 
tion and  have  created  a  lasting  and  congenial  spirit 
among  themselves.  May  the  coming  together  of 
these  wise  men  result  in  the  full  realization  of  the 
general  parliament  of  God,  the  brotherhood  of  man, 
and  the  consecration  of  souls  to  the  service  of  God." 

At  this  point  in  the  programme  occurred  a  scene 
in  Columbus  Hall  in  which  the  audience  in  Washing- 
ton Hall  could  not  participate.  Doctor  Barrows 
referred  to  President  Bonney  as  the  one  to  whom  the 
marvelous  success  of  the  parliament  was  due,  where- 
upon the  vast  audience  arose  as  by  a  single  impulse 
and  gave  the  Chautauqua  salute  with  enthusiasm. 

Mr.  Bonney  stood  for  a  moment,  after  the  enthu- 
siasm subsided,  almost  overcome  with  emotion,  and 
then  said:     "Not  unto  us,  not  unto  us,  but  unto 


316  world's  religious  congresses. 

thy  name  give  glory  —  to  tlie  God  that  inspired  this 
movement  and  has  guided  and  aided  it  by  his  bless- 
ing, through  a  multitude  of  the  best  men  and 
women  in  the  world  under  the  leadership  of  Doctor 
Barrows."  The  Apollo  Club  then  sang  the  Halle- 
lujah Chorus.  Its  rejjetition  was  demanded,  and 
President  Bonney  remarked  that  it  was  most  htting; 
it  had  never  been  given  on  a  more  appropriate  occa- 
sion, though  it  probably  never  entered  the  thought 
of  the  gifted  comj^oser  that  such  an  occasion  as  the 
present  could  arise.  While  it  was  being  sung  the 
second  time  the  Eev.  Dr.  George  Dana  Boardman  of 
Philadelphia  was  introduced  in  Washington  Hall, 
and  delivered  this  remarkable  and  effective  witness: 
''Fathers  of  the  contemplative  East,  sons  of  the 
executive  West,  behold  how  good  and  how  pleasant 
it  is  for  brethren  to  dwell  together  iu  unity.  The 
New  Jerusalem,  the  city  of  God,  is  descending, 
heaven  and  earth  chanting  the  eternal  hallelujah 
chorus. " 

Brief  speeches  from  American  representatives  fol- 
lowed, from  which  we  select  passages  as  showing 
their  estimate  of  the  event. 

Dr.  Emil  Hirsch  said:  "None  could  appreciate 
the  deeper  significance  of  this  parliament  more  fully 
than  we,  the  heirs  of  a  jpast  spanning  the  millenia, 
and  the  motive  of  whose  aciiievements  and  fortitude 
was  and  is  the  confident  hope  of  the  ultimate  break 
of  the  millennium.  Millions  of  my  co-religionists 
hoped  that  this  convocation  of  this  modern  great 
synagogue  would  sound  the  death-knell  of  hatred 


FAREWELL   MEETINGS.  317 

and  prejudice  under  which  they  have  pined  and  are 
still  suffering,  and  their  hope  has  not  been  disap- 
pointed. Of  old,  Palestine's  hills  were  every  month 
aglow  with  fire-brands  announcing  the  rise  of  a  new 
month.  So  here  were  kindled  the  cheering  fires  tell- 
ing the  whole  world  that  a  new  period  of  time  had 
been  consecrated.  We  Jews  came  hither  to  give 
and  to  receive.  For  wbat  little  we  could  bring  we 
have  been  richly  rewarded  in  the  precious  things  we 
have  received  in  turn.  According  to  an  old  rabbin- 
ical practice,  friends  among  us  never  part  without 
first  discussing  some  problem  of  religious  life.  Our 
whole  parliament  has  been  devoted  to  such  discus- 
sion, and  we  take  hence,  with  us  in  parting,  the 
richest  treasures  of  religious  instruction  ever  laid 
before  man.  Thus  the  old  Talmud ic  promise  will 
be  verified  in  us,  that  when  even  three  come  to- 
gether to  study  God's  law  his  Shekhinah  abides 
with  them." 

Dr.  Frank  Bristol,  beginning  with  a  stanza 
from  Burns'  "  Shall  brithers  be  for  a'  that,"  said: 
"Good,  and  only  good,  will  come  from  this  parlia- 
ment. To  all  who  have  come  from  afar  we  are 
profoundly  and  eternally  indebted.  Some  of  them 
represent  civilization  that  was  old  when  Romulus 
was  founding  Rome,  whose  philosophies  and  songs 
were  ripe  in  wisdom  and  rich  in  rhythm  before 
Homer  sang  his  Iliad  to  the  Greeks,  and  they  have 
enlarged  our  ideas  of  our  common  humanity.  They 
have  brought  to  us  fragrant  flowers  from  the  gar- 
dens of  Eastern  faiths,  rich  gems  from  the  old  mines 
of  great  philosophies,  and  we  are  richer  to-night 


318  world's  religious  congresses. 

from  their  contributions  of  thought,  and  jjarticu- 
larly  from  our  contact  with  them  in  spirit.  Never 
was  there  such  a  bright  and  hopeful  day  for  our 
common  humanity  along  the  lines  of  tolerance  and 
universal  brotherhood.  And  we  shall  find  that  by 
the  words  that  these  visitors  have  brought  to  us, 
and  by  the  influence  they  have  exerted,  they  will  be 
richly  rewarded  in  the  consciousness  of  having  con- 
tributed to  the  mighty  movement  which  holds  in 
itself  the  promise  of  one  faith,  one  Lord,  (<ne  Father, 
one  brotherhood.  A  distinguished  writer  has  said 
it  is  always  morn  somewhere  in  the  world.  The 
time  hastens  when  a  greater  thing  will  be  said:  'Tis 
always  morn  everywhere  in  the  world.  The  dark- 
ness has  passed,  the  day  is  at  hand,  and  with  it  will 
come  the  greater  humanity,  the  universal  brother- 
hood.'" 

The  Rev.  Jenkin  Lloyd  Jones  bade  "the  parting 
guests  the  godspeed  that  comes  out  of  a  soul  that 
is  glad  to  recognize  its  kinship  with  all  lands  and 
with  all  religions;  and  when  you  go,  you  go,  not 
only  leaving  behind  you  in  our  hearts  more  hospit- 
able thoughts  for  the  faiths  you  represent,  but  also 
w^arm  and  loving  ties  that  bind  you  into  the  union 
that  will  be  our  joy  and  our  life  f orevermore. "  And 
referring  to  an  intended  motion  for  a  second  parlia- 
ment of  religions,  he  continued:  "At  first  I  thought 
that  Bombay  might  be  a  good  place,  or  Calcutta  a 
better  place,  but  I  have  concluded  to  move  that  the 
next  i)arliament  of  religions  be  held  on  the  sacred 
banks  of  the  Ganges,   in  the  ancient  new  city  of 


FAREWELL  MEETIJ^GS.  319 

Benares,  where  we  can  visit  these  brethren  at  their 
noblest  headquarters.  And  when  we  go  there  we 
will  do  as  they  have  done,  leaving  our  heavy  bag- 
gage behind,  going  in  light  marching  order,  carry- 
ing only  the  working  principles  that  are  applicable 
in  all  lands." 

Mrs.  Henrotin,  always  working,  never  hurried, 
giving  to  every  j)reparation  that  womanly  touch 
needed  to  quiet  anxiety  and  stimulate  courage,  bore 
her  testimony  to  the  earnest  and  harmonious  work 
of  the  committees  of  women,  and  to  its  worth, 
especially  in  connection  with  the  denominational 
congresses,  quoted  above.  And  Miss  Chapin  fol- 
lowed: 

' '  We  have  heard, ' '  she  said,  ' '  of  the  fatherhood  of 
God,  the  brotherhood  of  man,  and  the  solidarity  of 
the  human  race,  until  these  great  words  and  truths 
have  j)enetrated  our  minds  and  sunken  into  our 
hearts  as  never  before.  They  will  henceforth  have 
larger  meaning.  No  one  of  us  all  but  has  been 
intellectually  strengthened  and  spiritually  uplifted. 
We  have  been  sitting  together  upon  the  mountain 
of  the  Lord.  We  shall  never  descend  to  the  lower 
places  where  our  feet  have  sometimes  trod  in  times 
past.  I  have  tried,  as  I  have  listened  to  these 
masterly  addresses,  to  imagine  what  effect  this 
comparative  study  of  religions  would  have  upon  the 
religious  world  and  upon  individual  souls  that 
come  directly  under  the  sweep  of  its  influence.  It 
is  not  too  much  to  hope  that  a  great  impulse  has 


320  world's  keligious  congresses. 

been  given  to  the  cause  of  religious  unity,  and  to 
pure  and  undefiled  religion  in  all  lands." 

Bishop  Arnett,  of  the  African  Methodist  Episco- 
pal church,  always  poj)ular,  always  frank  and  genial; 
said  many  good  things,  but  nothing  better  than  this: 
"The  ten  commandments,  the  sermon  on  the  mount, 
and  the  golden  rule  have  not  been  superseded  by 
any  that  have  been  presented  by  the  various  teachers 
of  religion  and  philosophy,  but  our  mountains  are 
just  as  high  and  our  doctrines  are  just  as  pure  as 
before  our  meeting,  and  every  man  and  woman  has 
been  confirmed  in  the  faith  once  delivered  to  the 
saints.  Another  good  of  this  convention:  it  has 
taught  us  a  lesson  that  while  we  have  truth  on  our 
side  we  have  not  had  all  the  truth;  while  we  have 
had  theory  we  have  not  had  all  the  practice;  and 
the  strongest  criticism  we  have  received  was  not  as 
to  our  doctrines  or  methods,  but  as  to  our  practice 
not  being  in  harmony  with  our  own  teachings  and 
with  our  own  doctrines." 

Bishop  Keane  made  a  characteristic  address, 
asserting  the  primitive  unity  of  religion  and  appeal- 
ing for  a  restored  unity;  and  then  Mr.  Bonney  said: 
"In  the  midst  of  all  these  representatives  of  the 
various  faiths  and  churclies  sits  a  Presbyterian  min- 
ister who  has  performed  one  of  the  greatest  offices 
ever  committed  to  the  hand  of  man  —  the  unifica- 
tion of  the  world  in  the  things  of  religion.  That 
man  now  comes  to  say  his  closing  words  to  this 
World's  Parliament  of  Religions,   and  I  have  the 


HON.  FUNG  QUANG   YU, 

Secretary  of  Chinese  Legation. 


FAREWELL   MEETINGS.  321 

honor  to  present  Rev.  Dr.  John  Henry  Barrows, 
chairman  of  the  general  committee."  When  the 
ovation  which  followed  had  subsided  he  spoke  as 
follows: 

"The  closing  hour  of  this  parliament  is  one  of 
congratulation,  of  tender  sorrow,  of  triumphant 
hopefulness.  God  has  been  better  to  us  by  far  than 
our  fears,  and  no  one  has  more  occas'on  for  grati- 
tude than  your  chairman,  that  he  has  been  upheld 
and  comforted  by  your  cordial  cooperation,  by  the 
prayers  of  a  great  host  of  God's  noblest  men  and 
women,  and  by  the  consciousness  of  divine  favor. 
Our  hopes  have  been  more  than  realized.  The  sen- 
timent which  has  inspired  this  parliament  has  held 
us  together.  The  principles  in  accord  with  which 
this  historic  convention  has  proceeded  have  been 
put  to  the  test,  and  even  strained  at  times,  but  they 
have  not  been  inadequate.  Toleration,  brotherly 
kindness,  trust  in  each  other's  sincerity,  a  candid 
and  earnest  seeking  after  the  unities  of  religion,  the 
honest  purpose  of  each  to  set  forth  his  own  faith 
without  compromise  and  without  unfriendly  criti- 
cism —  these  principles,  thanks  to  your  loyalty  and 
courage,  have  not  been  found  wanting. 

"I  thank  God  for  these  friendships  which  we 
have  knit  with  men  and  women  beyond  the  sea,  and 
I  thank  you  for  your  sympathy  and  over-generous 
appreciation,  and  for  the  constant  help  which  you 
have  furnished  in  the  midst  of  my  multiplied  duties. 
Christian  America  sends  her  greetings  through  you 
to  all  mankind.  We  cherish  a  broadened  sympa- 
thy, a  higher  rfespect,  a  truer  tenderness  to  the 


322  world's  religious  congresses. 

children  of  our  common  father  in  all  lands,  and,  as 
the  story  of  this  parliament  is  read  in  the  cloisters 
of  Japan,  by  the  rivers  of  Southern  Asia,  amid  the 
universities  of  Europe,  and  in  the  isles  of  all  the 
seas,  it  is  my  prayer  that  non-Christian  readers 
may,  in  some  measure,  discover  what  has  been  the 
source  and  strength  of  that  faith  in  divine  father- 
hood and  human  brotherhood  which,  embodied  in  an 
Asiatic  peasant  who  was  the  Son  of  God,  and  made 
divinely  potent  through  him,  is  clasping  the  globe 
with  bands  of  heavenly  light.  Most  that  is  in  my 
heart  of  love,  and  gratitude,  and  happy  memory 
must  go  unsaid.  If  any  honor  is  due  for  this  mag- 
nificent achievement,  let  it  be  given  to  the  spirit  of 
Christ,  which  is  the  spirit  of  love  in  the  hearts  of 
those  of  many  lands  and  faiths  who  have  toiled  for 
the  high  ends  of  this  great  meeting.  May  the  bless- 
ing of  him  who  rules  the  storm  and  holds  the  ocean 
waves  in  his  right  hand  follow  you,  with  the  pray- 
ers of  all  God' s  people,  to  your  distant  homes.  And 
as  Sir  Joshua  Reynolds  closed  his  lectures  on  '  The 
Art  of  Painting'  with  the  name  of  Michael  Angelo, 
so,  with  a  deeper  reverence,  I  desire  that  the  last 
words  w^hicli  I  speak  to  this  parliament  shall  be  the 
name  of  him  to  whom  I  owe  life,  and  truth,  and 
hope,  and  all  things,  who  reconciles  all  contradic- 
tions, pacifies  all  antagonisms,  and  who,  from  the 
throne  of  his  heavenly  kingdom,  directs  the  serene 
and  unwearied  omnipotence  of  redeeming  love  — 
Jesus  Christ,  the  Saviour  of  the  world." 

At  the  close  of  Doctor  Barrows'  address,   Mr. 


FAREWELL    MEETINGS.  323 

Bonney,  who  from  lirst  to  last  had  shown  such 
appreciation  of  everybody,  and  such  felicitous  sense 
of  the  fitting  thing  to  be  said  in  the  opening,  and 
encouragement  of  the  parliament  and  every  one  of 
the  diverse  subordinate  congresses,  closed  with  an 
appropriate  summing  up  and  forecast  of  results, 
from  which  we  select  these  characteristic  passages: 

' '  The  influence  which  this  congress  of  the  relig- 
ions of  the  world  will  exert  on  the  peace  and  the 
prosperity  of  the  world  is  beyond  the  power  of 
human  language  to  describe;  for  this  influence, 
borne  by  those  who  have  attended  the  sessions  of 
the  Parliament  of  Religions  to  all  parts  of  the  world, 
will  affect  in  some  important  degree  all  races  of 
men,  all  forms  of  religion,  and  even  all  governments 
and  social  institutions. 

''The  results  of  this  influence  will  not  soon  be 
apparent  in  external  changes,  but  will  manifest 
themselves  in  thought,  feeling,  expression,  and  the 
deeds  of  charity.  -  Creeds  and  institutions  may  long 
remain  unchanged  in  form,  but  a  new  spirit  of 
light  and  peace  will  pervade  them,  for  this  congress 
of  the  world's  religions  is  the  most  marvelous 
evidence  yet  given  of  the  approaching  fulfillment  of 
the  apocalyptic  prophecy,  '  Behold !  I  make  all 
things  new.' 

''And  now  farewell.  A  thousand  congratula- 
tions and  thanks  for  the  cooperation  and  aid  of  all 
who  have  contributed  to  the  glorious  results  which 
we  celebrate  this  night.  Henceforth  the  religions 
of  the  world  will  make  war,  not  on  each  other,  but 
on  the  giant  evils  that  afllict  mankind.     Henceforth 


324  world's  religious  congresses. 

let  all  throughout  the  world  who  worship  God  and 
love  their  fellow-men  join  in  the  anthem  of  the 
angels  : 

"Glory  to  God  in  the  highest! 
Peace  on  earth,  good  will  among  men!" 


CHAPTER  yil. 

WHAT   WILL   BE  THE   RESULT? 

rriHE  world's  congresses  of  1893  have  advanced 

JL    the  thought  of  the  world  fifty  years." 

"These  congresses  will  exercise  a  power- 
ful influence  on  mankind  for  centuries  to  come." 

"The  Parliament  of  Religions  is  the  most  wonder- 
ful event  since  the  time  of  Christ." 

' '  The  results  of  these  congresses  seem  likely  to 
be  too  vast  and  far-reaching  to  be  easily  specified." 

So  have  able  and  competent  judges  passed  upon 
the  merits  of  these  meetings.  It  is  to  be  hoped  that 
the  proceedings,  from  first  to  last  of  the  whole 
exhibit  of  the  thought  of  the  times,  of  which  it  has 
been  said,  "It  marks  a  new  era  in  literature  by 
its  wealth  of  thought  and  felicity  of  expression 
gathered  from  all  parts  of  the  world,"  may  be  pub- 
lished by  the  United  States  Government  and  j)laced 
in  the  libraries  of  the  world.  Then  results  will  take 
care  of  themselves. 

But  of  this  movement  in  the  religious  world 
especially,  which  has  attracted  such  wide-spread 
attention,  many  are  asking,  "Whence  comes  it? 
What  does  it  mean?"  No  one  has  given  any 
better  account  of  causes  than  its  originator,  who 
refers  it  to  "the  New  Age."  Speaking  to  the 
Columbian  Catholic  Congress,  in  an  address  grate- 

(325) 


326  world's  religious  congresses. 

ful  to  earnest  Catholics,  and  instructive  to  all  fair- 
minded  men,  President  Bonney  said  of  the  spirit  of 
the  age: 

^'Descended  from  the  Sun  of  Righteousness  this 
spirit  of  progress  is  filling  the  whole  earth  with  its 
splendor  and  beauty,  its  warmth  and  vivifying 
power,  and  making  the  old  things  of  truth  and 
justice  new  in  meaning,  strength,  and  energy  to 
execute  God's  will  for  the  welfare  of  man." 

After  rehearsing  some  of  the  evidences  of  prog- 
ress in  Catholic  deliverances  and  decisions,  and 
among  Protestants  on  the  other  hand,  he  says  of 
the  meaning  of  these  changes:  "Blind  indeed 
must  be  the  eyes  that  can  not  see  in  these  events 
the  quickened  march  of  the  ages  of  human  progress 
toward  the  fulfillment  of  the  divine  prophecy  of  one 
fold  and  one  shepherd,  when  all  forms  of  gov- 
ernment shall  be  one  in  liberty  and  justice,  and  all 
forms  of  faith  and  worship  one  in  charity  and 
human  service." 

There  are  many  who  will  not  see  it  so.  There  are 
some  Catholics  who  can  conceive  of  one  fold  only 
as  Protestants  and  heathen  are  gathered  into  the 
allegiance  of  Rome,  and  there  are  some  Protestants 
who  would  not  enter  a  fold  which  should  include 
Catholics  without  the  most  solemn  subscription  to 
their  own  catechism  of  faith  and  to  their  ecclesias- 
tical polity.  There  are  some,  perhaps  there  are 
many,  who,  so  far  from  rejoicing  that  the  heathen 
give  evidence  of  a  real  religion,  are  so  little  confi- 
dent of  Christian  truth  and  triumph  that  they 
greatly  fear    the    effect    of    this    comparison  and 


WHAT   WILL   BE  THE   RESULT  ?  827 

friendly  iatercliange.  The  religious  press  reflects 
all  these  prejudices,  doubts,  and  fears.  It  must  be 
admitted  that  bigotry  is  not  dead,  and  that  one 
love-feast  is  not  the  millenium.  The  old-line  theo- 
logians and  ecclesiastical  managers,  who  took  little 
part  in  the  congresses,  look  with  distrust  upon  the 
movement.  They  recognize  that  an  important  event 
has  occurred,  but  seem  uncertain  as  to  results,  and 
hesitating  as  to  the  attitude  they  ought  to  assume 
toward  it.  On  the  other  hand,  it  is  obvious  that  the 
great  body  of  worshiping  and  working  Christian 
people  are  much  impressed,  and  expectant  of  good 
results;  though  just  what  permanent  results  and 
healthful  movements  are  to  follow  they  have  not 
clearly  defined. 

One  thing  is  clear,  namely,  that  there  is  a  new 
spirit  in  Christendom,  a  si^irit  not  very  generally 
or  generously  adopted  by  religious  leaders,  perhaps, 
but  strong  enough  to  bring  into  conspicuous  cooper- 
ation a  few  broad  and  able  men,  from  among  Catho- 
lics and  Protestants,  and  representing  both  orthodox 
and  liberal  views,  and  to  so  far  dominate  opposition 
and  quiet  distrust  and  stimulate  generous  impulses 
as  to  issue  in  this  universal  conference.  A  few  years 
ago,  these  men  could  not  have  worked  together  for 
three  years  to  a  common  end;  could  not  have 
issued  the  call  in  the  name  of  Christendom  with- 
out a  clamor  of  i^rotest  that  would  have  dis- 
counted its  validity;  could  not  have  conducted 
a  programme  covering  three  sessions  a  day  for 
seventeen  days  without  getting  into  disgraceful 
conflicts  and  humiliating  displays  of  bad  feeling. 


328  world's   RP]LIGIOUS   CONGKESSES. 

There  is  a  new  spirit  in  Christendom,  not  only  of 
toleration  and  good  feeling,  but  of  faith  in  the 
divine  care  for  all  men,  of  respect  for  the  'liberty 
of  willing  and  thinking '  which  belongs  to  all  men 
of  divine  gift  and  must  be  regarded  in  all  efforts  to 
help  and  benefit  one  another.  There  is  in  this  new 
spirit,  moreover,  less  concern  about  the  form  of 
belief  than  about  the  fruit  it  bears;  a  disposition  to 
judge  its  substance  and  quality  by  the  life  it  con- 
fers rather  than  by  the  form  of  its  statement;  a  con- 
viction that  the  true  principle  of  unity  is  love  and 
not  faith,  fidelity  in  life  to  what  a  man  understands 
to  be  the  will  of  God  and  not  uniformity  of  confes- 
sion. Where  this  bond  of  charity,  the  common 
possession  of  an  inward  acknowledgment  and  liv- 
ing loyalty  to  what  one  believes  to  be  of  the  divine, 
exists,  matters  of  faith  are  subjects  of  reasonable 
conference  and  instruction  among  brethren,  the 
wise  helping  the  less  wise  and  pointing  out  errors, 
not  to  compel,  but  to  show  a  better  way  of  life. 
The  recognition  of  this  true  bond  of  brotherly  love, 
the  fellowship  of  those  who  are  seeking  to  do  the 
will  of  God,  is  not  by  any  means  an  indifference  to 
llie  comi)arative  value  of  beliefs,  or  to  the  distinc- 
tions of  truth  and  error,  but  a  new  estimate  of  the 
end  of  all  right  belief,  which  is  to  guide  the  life  into 
harmony  and  union  with  God.  It  must  be  called  a 
new  spirit,  rather  than  a  defined  doctrine,  because 
it  has  come  in  like  the  vernal  influences  of  sun  and 
wind,  and  is  operative  rather  as  an  impulse  than  as 
a  definite  purpose.  But  it  has  come  into  Christen- 
dom, and  has  been  met  and  sweetly  reciprocated  by 


WHAT   WILL   BE  THE   KESULT  ?  329 

the  representatives  of  the  non-Christian  faiths.  It 
is  new  and  it  spreads.  However  few  relatively  to 
the  whole  body  the  representatives  of  Christian 
churches  who  T)articipated  in  the  j)arliament,  it  is 
manifest  that  in  this  spirit  they  feel  the  support  of 
a  large  following,  and,  as  was  often  said,  of  an  inspi- 
ration from  above.  Whatever  opposition  to  this 
si^irit  there  may  be,  it  is  overawed  and  cautious  in 
expression.  Whatever  doubt  and  criticism  of  the 
spirit  in  Christendom  was  shown  by  oriental  relig- 
ionists, was  criticism  of  a  spirit  formerly  and  else- 
where manifest,  not  a  doubt  of  the  genuineness  of 
this  spirit  of  brotherhood  and  helpfulness  in  the 
parliament.  This  new  spirit  has  come  to  stay. 
Those  who  like  it  may  rejoice  in  it;  those  who  do 
not  may  adjust  themselves  to  it,  as  to  the  spirit  of 
the  age,  which  is  J^yond  their  control. 

It  seems  likely  that  a  second  result  of  these  con- 
gresses, and  one  inseparable  from  the  new  si3irit 
they  have  exhibited,  will  be  a  change  in  the  method, 
and  perha^Ds  in  the  message,  of  Christian  mission- 
aries. Intimations  have  come  back  recently  from 
the  missionaries  in  many  lands  that  the  natives  do 
not  so  much  reject  the  Christianity  of  the  gospel 
in  the  Lord's  words  and  works,  as  the  sectarian 
dogmas  and  the  attempt  to  impose  sectarian 
organization  and  control  upon  native  Christians. 
Witli  the  new  spirit  of  brotherhood  for  all  who  are 
faithful  to  their  best,  and  recognition  of  the  great 
value  of  the  non- Christian  faiths  to  those  who  are 
loyal  to  their  teachings,  the  motive  of  missions 
must  become  more  helpful,  and  the  methods  more 


330  world's  religious  congresses. 

accommodated  to  native  ideas  and  conditions. 
Some  are  fearing  that  the  effect  of  the  congresses 
will  be  to  discourage  missions,  at  least  temiDoraril}-; 
that,  from  an  idea  that  they  are  not  needed,  funds 
will  be  cut  off,  and  from  a  false  hope  of  salvation 
for  all  the  motive  of  missions  will  be  destroyed. 
This  may  be  true  to  some  extent  with  respect  to  cer- 
tain missionary  methods,  and  the  appeal  of  certain 
societies  committed  to  them;  but  it  is  more  likely 
that  the  desire  to  carry  the  fuller  light  of  the  gospel 
to  those  who  are  doing  their  best  to  please  God,  but 
are  ignorant  and  in  error,  will  prove  in  the  long 
run  a  stronger  motive  and  a  richer  enthusiasm  than 
the  fear  of  their  damnation  or  the  desire  of  secta- 
rian triumphs  have  ever  furnished. 

The  gentle  Dharmapala  was  not  by  any  means 
free  from  prejudice,  but  his  prejudice  was  not 
directed  against  the  gospel  of  Jesus  Christ  or  the 
preaching  of  that  gospel  in  the  East.  Addressing 
Americans,  he  said:  "You  are  free  from  the  bonds 
of  theology  and  dogma,  and  I  want  you  seriously  to 
consider  that  the  twentieth  century  evangelization 
is  in  your  hands.  I  warn  you  that  if  you  want  to 
establish  Christianity  in  the  East  it  can  only  be  done 
in  the  principles  of  Christ's  love  and  meekness. 
Let  the  missionaries  study  all  religions,  let  them 
be  types  of  meekness  and  lowliness,  and  they  will 
find  a  welcome  in  all  lands."  The  Eev.  George  T. 
Candlin,  missionary  in  China,  said,  "The  meaning 
of  Christianity  from  a  missionary  point  of  view  is 
infinite  desire  to  give  and  willingness  to  receive." 
The  Rev.  E.  E.  Hume  of  India,  discussing  "How 


WHAT   WILL   BE  THE   RESULT?  331 

we  might  do  our  work  better,"  said,  "First  of  all,  we 
might  some  of  us  know  the  thoughts  of  non- Chris- 
tians better.  We  ought  to  study  their  books  more 
deeply,  more  intelligently,  more  constantly.  We 
ought  to  associate  with  them  in  order  to  know  their 
inmost  thoughts  and  feelings  and  their  aspirations 
better  than  we  do."  Again  he  said,  "Where  we 
find  truth  we  should  more  cordially .  and  more 
gladly  recognize  it;"  and  he  warned  against  the 
jealousy  that  sometimes  is  found  where  there 
ought  to  be  only  gladness  that  God  through  his 
eternal  Word  enlighteneth  every  man  that  cometli 
into  the  world.  And  finally,  he  said  there  are 
"phases  of  Christian  doctrine  which  are  put  before 
orientals  as  essential  to  Christianity  which  are 
only  Western  theology,"  and  which  instead  of 
attracting  repel  the  minds  of  non-Christian  people. 
Such  testimony  will  have  an  influence,  and  we  may 
expect  missionary  boards  sooner  or  later  to  adjust 
themselves  to  the  new  spirit  in  Christendom,  and  to 
adopt  a  new  motive,  and  more  generous  method  in 
the  field.  When  the  motive  shall  be  to  instruct 
the  willing-hearted  in  the  simple  faith  of  the 
gospel,  and  to  preach  to  all  repentance  for  the  real 
remission  of  sins,  that  all  may  grow  more  worthily 
as  the  children  of  God,  we  may  expect  to  see 
methods  adopted  which  will  look  to  the  training  of 
Christians  rather  than  the  making  of  Presby- 
terians, Congregationalists,  Methodists,  and  so 
forth.  The  movement  has  begun,  and  Mr.  Cand- 
lin's  conundrum  is  likely  to  be  meditated:  "Given 
a  Christendom  of  religious  sects  wrangling  about 


332 

minor  points  of  doctrine,   to  produce  a  universal 
harmony  from  their  united  action." 

This  leads  to  the  suggestion  of  another  result 
likely  to  follow  these  congresses,  namely,  the  recog- 
nition of  the  need  in  Christendom  of  a  sound  basis 
of  faith,  simple,  self-attesting,  and  witnessing  its 
divine  origin.  In  the  papers  read  before  the  parlia- 
ment, with  a  few  exceptions,  there  is  wanting  that 
apostolic  assurance  which  rests  in  the  confidence  of 
divine  authority.  It  is  manifest  that  the  authority 
of  tradition  and  of  councils  is  a  thing  of  the  past, 
and  that  the  authority  of  self-evident  truth  has  not 
been  found,  except,  it  may  be,  in  such  general  prop- 
ositions as  that  God  is,  and  that  righteousness  alone 
is  profitable.  The  aspiration  of  reason,  in  its  new 
sense  of  freedom,  is  to  know  who  God  is,  and  how 
he  operates  in  the  universe  which  he  transcends,  and 
such  a  conception  of  righteousness  as  will  reconcile 
the  providence  of  God  with  the  recognized  laws  of 
cause  and  effect.  The  reliance  of  progressive 
thought  is  just  now  upon  the  revelation  of  God  in 
consciousness  and  to  the  reason.  It  is  sure,  sooner 
or  later,  to  discover  the  weakness  of  its  own  methods. 
The  aspiration  of  the  human  soul  is  ever  for  an  ulti- 
mate authority,  for  the  voice  of  God.  And  when 
the  hope  that  is  centered  in  the  person  of  Jesus 
Christ,  and  the  thought  that  is  beginning  to  see  in 
him  the  larger  meaning  of  divine  providence,  seeks 
to  define  itself  to  the  oriental  religions,  and  to  speak 
with  the  authority  of  a  divine  commission  to  wealth 
and  poverty,  to  sinners  high  and  low,  it  is  sure  to 
feel  the  need  of  a  more  definite,  rational,  and  con- 


WHAT  WILL   BE  THE   EESULT?  333 

vincing  doctrine  than  it  is  yet  able  to  utter.  The 
more  it  tries  to  find  it,  the  more  it  will  see  it  can 
not  make  it,  but  must  find  it  in  the  Word  that  is 
written,  in  the  Scripture  that  calls  itself  the  Word 
of  God;  and  in  that  as  the  vesture  of  him  who  is  so 
named  in  apocalyptic  vision.  When  God  is  seen  in 
Christ,  and  Christ  is  seen  in  the  written  Word 
"opening  in  all  the  Scriptures  things  concerning 
himself,"  men  will  search  in  the  Scriptures,  and  n(;t 
in  the  processes  of  their  own  thought  alone,  for  the 
faith  of  God^ — universal,  self-attesting,  divine. 
The  world's  religious  congresses  reveal  the  need 
of  such  assured,  universal  truths,  coming  down  to 
man  from  above,  meeting  all  needs,  applicable  to  all 
conditions;  the  need,  in  short,  of  a  gospel  which  is 
the  gift  of  God,  and  not  a  troublesome  tradition  of 
the  elders,  nor  yet  an  immature  siDeculation  of  the 
newly  enfranchised  reason.  The  recognition  of  the 
need,  if  it  becomes  general,  will  lead  to  the  prayer 
that  goes  before  reception.  All  history  witnesses 
that  the  providence  of  God  is  beforehand  with  his 
people's  need;  and  that  before  they  ask  he  x)rovides 
the  answer,  to  be  revealed  when  they  shall  be  ready 
to  ask. 

Our  human  needs  are  prophecies  of  gifts. 
They  were  not  planted  else.     We  crave,  we  have; 
We  yearn  for  and  obtain;  the  soul's  deep  want 
Prepares  the  soul,  thus  thirsting,  to  receive 
The  good  it  wants. 

Even  now  the  answer  is  within  reach.  From 
deliverances  before  the  parliament  quoted  in  this 
brief  review,  we  could  construct  a  series  of  state- 


334  world's  religious  congresses. 

ments  ecumenical  to  the  practical  religious  needs 
of  all  men,  if  they  could  separate  their  attention  to 
them  from  the  thought  of  traditions  and  from  their 
prepossessions.  Brought  together  from  different 
addresses,  and  from  those  too  which  had  through- 
out the  clearest  tone  of  authority  grounded  in  a 
divine  conviction,  they  would  read  something  like 
this: 

That  the  glorified  Lord,  Jesus  Christ,  is  God  with 
us^  from  whose  presence  comes  the  Holy  Spirit  to 
protect  and  empower  and  save.  That  the  Bible  is 
the  Lord's  Word,  containing  within  the  history  and 
symbol  and  parable  of  its  letter  an  infinite  wisdom 
capable  of  unfolding  itself  in  the  minds  of  those 
who  will  live  as  it  teaches.  That  there  is  a  spirit- 
ual world  where  we  shall  live  forever,  and  that  our 
state  there,  in  heaven  or  hell,  will  be  the  inevitable 
result  of  the  motives  which  we  make  our  own  by 
choice  and  life  in  this  world.  That  the  Lord  saves 
those  who  love  him  and  keep  his  commandments, 
imparting  wisdom  and  power  in  so  far  as  they  shun 
evil  and  do  good  in  acknowledgment  of  him;  and 
that  in  very  truth  God  is  no  respecter  of  persons. 


Dr.  Barrows'  Great  History 

OF  THE 

Parliament  of  Religions. 

15,000  SETS  (30,000  Volumes) 

Sold  and  being  delivered. 

10,000  SETS  (20,000  Volumes) 

To  be  delivered  January  1,  1894. 

IF  YOU  GET  DR.    BARROWS'   BOOK  YOXJ  WIIiL   GET  YOUR   MONEY  S 
WORTH,  HEAPED  UP  AND  RUNNING  OVER. 


All  the  World  is  Buying  Dr.  Barrows'  Great  History  of 
the  World's  Parliament  of  Religions 

1.  Because  it  is  Dr.  Barrows'  book;  because  it  bears  throughout  the  impress 
of  the  man  to  whose  wonderful  ability  is  due  more  than  to  any  other  the  success 
of  the  Parliament. 

All  the  World  is  Buying  Dr.  Barrows'  Book 

2.  Because  while  it  does  not  profess  to  give  in  full  all  the  addresses  given  at 
the  Parliament  and  the  Congresses,  it  does  give  unchanged  and  complete 
those  in  which  the  world  is  especially  interested.  It  gives  the  oriental  papers 
almost  without  exception  in  full.  It  gives  sixty  pages  of  Pung  Kwang  Yu's 
great  address  on  Confucianism,  whereas  its  imitators  give  but  six.  It  gives  all 
of  Professor  Drummond's  powerful  paper;  its  imitators  give  one-third.  It  gives 
Canon  Freemantle's  splendid  address  on  the  "  Reunion  of  Christendom ""  and 
W.  T.  Stead's  unrivaled  paper  on  the  "  Civic  Church,"  not  one  word  of  which  ap- 
pears or  can  appear  in  the  cheap  imitations.  It  gives  in  its  1624  pages  just  that 
which  the  world  desires  to  preserve. 

All  the  World  is  Buying  Dr.  Barrows'  Great  History 

3.  Because  in  its  editing,  its  scholarship,  its  typesetting,  its  printing,  its  illus- 
trating, its  paper,  its  binding,  its  convenience  of  handling  it  is  as  thorough  and 
creditable  a  piece  of  book-work  as  was  ever  sent  from  the  press.  We  have  not 
saved  money  by  making  it  a  cheap  scrapbook  of  newspaper  reports,  or  by  jam- 
ming into  one  unwieldy,  insecurely  bound  volume  a  mass  of  matter  which  can  be 
made  serviceable  only  when  divided  into  books  of  smaller  bulk. 

All  the  World  is  Buying  Dr.  Barrows'  Book 

4.  Because  its  superb  illustrations  of  quaint  and  curious  religious  buildings, 
scenes,  customs,  and  its  lifelike  portraits  of  the  great  men  and  women  of  the 
religious  world,  gathered  at  ^reat  expense  from  every  corner  of  the  globe,  ren- 
der it  worth  its  price  as  a  religious  album  alone. 

All  the  World  is  Buying  Dr.  Barrows'  Book 

5  Because  it  seems  that  all  the  rest  of  the  world  and  the  provinces  are  after 
it;  because  everybody  knows  that  we  are  running  two  great  printing  houses 
night  and  day  to  provide  the  15,000  nets  (30,000  volumes)  which  have  been  already 
purchased,  and  the  10,000  sets  (20,000  volumes)  which  we  must  deliver  before 
January  1st. 

PKRLIKMENT  PUBLISHING    COMPHNY, 

CHICAGO. 

A.  C.  Bartlett.  HENRY  L.  TURNER,  President  and  Treasurer. 

Board  of  Reference   ^  Byr^nT^  Smith.  SCHILLER  HOSFORD,  Vice-President. 

O.  S.  A.  Sprague.  D WIGHT  B.  HEARD.  Secretary. 
Henry  L.  Turner. 


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